The Son of Darkness
by KillerWisdom Nightshade
Summary: When an enemy appears, a son of both races, he threatens both races with his plan. It's up to the hero's and heroine's on both sides to defeat him, if they can manage an alliance. If they do, it could mean new friendships and alliances. If they don't, it will mean the start of the Demon Age. It's a kidnapping that brings these races together. Demigods and Nephilim.
1. It's Date Night!

Annabeth POV

It had been nearly a year since the war with Gaea was won, it was close to the time when demigods went to school to pursue a mortal life, or at least, as close to a regular mortal life as possible.

Percy and Annabeth had become so much closer over these past months. When she had her daily Tartarus nightmares, it was only him that could offer her even the slightest bit of comfort, and vice versa. Her siblings had tried to calm her the first few nights after she had gotten back, but a couple of them had ended up being sent to the Apollo cabin to get bandaged up during one of her after-nightmare fits. The two of them had lots of trouble during the school year. In fact, Annabeth had very nearly begun living with Percy, his mom and Paul as she and Percy had to redo the twelfth year, since she had taken that year off to focus on finding Percy.

It was Malcolm who had decided to give Percy a bed next to Annabeth's and a spare drawer for some of his clothes. Her siblings had all come to the realization that Percy went through the same thing with no one around to comfort him. Annabeth had spare clothes and an extra bed at his cabin too, for when they slept in his, though her siblings didn't exactly approve of that idea. And it was no secret that Will would keep Nico company in the Hades cabin at night. They'd even begun to start publicly seeing each other.

When she was in the Arena with the rest of her cabin-mates for sword fighting Annabeth could have sworn that she had seen something, though she was sure that it was a hallucination. She had already been tired that morning and she hadn't taken a water break just yet. She decided to take a break and went to sit on the cool stone floor away from the clashing of swords. She'd sworn that she had seen a shadow following her. She had been seeing, and she was pretty sure, the same shadow for days. It never did anything other than watch. And it was watching her now. It stood there beside a column, a dark oval that seemed to bend the light away from it and leech the colors from objects near it. Annabeth started to feel a little sick and wanted so badly to tell someone about this stuff. Her mind felt sharp and she wondered what the hell that thing was. She stared defiantly at the darkness and it suddenly disappeared.

Now that the shadow wasn't there anymore she looked over to where Malcolm was teaching the younger kids a defensive move. She needed to tell him. But... as the seconds flew by she felt the urgency inside her slowly melt away into a calm serenity that pushed the mysterious shadow to the back corners of her mind. Annabeth could slowly feel her mind dull down for some reason.

* * *

Annabeth was in the middle of archery when she felt a pair of arms circle around her and for a second, she felt a flare of panic. Then she realized exactly who it was. Percy. "If you do not let go of me," She warned, "I will stab you with an arrow."

She only said that because it made her mad, that little flicker of fear she felt. Tartarus seriously screwed her up.

"Well, we wouldn't want that." His arms only loosened a bit as she turned around to face him.

"You realize that you are so lucky. If anyone else had snuck up on me like that, it would have been the last time they ever attempted it again." Annabeth looked him right in his beautiful, sea-green eyes and glared at him as she said that. "You... surprised me." _Because I thought you were a horror from Tartarus,_ were the unspoken words passed between them. _Sorry,_ was Percy's unsaid word back.

"Just wanted to let you know that I made reservations for us at a really nice restaurant tonight. Around six fourty-five _-ish_." He said this aloud.

Annabeth was actually shocked. Yeah, they had been going out for more than a year, but she was still so surprised when he managed to take charge and plan a date without her giving him 'little nudges' in that direction. She dropped her bow onto the grass and gave him a brief hug.

"I love you, Seaweed Brain." Percy just gave her that annoyingly attractive grin of his and said nothing, though his eyes were telling her the same thing back. She put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. His lips tasted salty as usual. His arms automatically wrapped themselves around her waist and she felt the same way she usually did while in his embrace (With the exception of a few minutes ago); safe.

 _~Hours later…_ ~

Piper lounged on a bed near Annabeth's in the Athena cabin. Annabeth was sitting amongst piles of all her clothing, trying to find something to wear.

"Uh," she groaned. "I don't seem to have anything appropriate." She glanced over to where Piper was lying. "What do you think?" she asked anxiously.

This was exactly why Annabeth was happy to have Piper as a best friend. Children of Aphrodite are really good at clothing suggestions. Then again, Annabeth could only ever stand some of the Aphrodite kids. Selena, who was killed in the Titan war and Piper herself. Grand total of two. Wow.

Piper pursed her lips and gazed thoughtfully at the all of Annabeth's clothing. Her nose scrunched up slightly.

"Come with me," was all she said.

Piper got up and headed out the door. Annabeth did as she was told and ended up in the Aphrodite cabin. There were clothes everywhere as well as cosmetics. Piper went to a dresser and opened up some of the drawers and started to dig through it all.

"So do you know where he's taking you?" Piper asked.

"No, not yet," was the reply she got back.

Annabeth stood awkwardly in the doorway, not sure what to do with herself. She took a few tentave steps into the cabin and decided to sit on a bed half covered in dresses. The cabin wasn't really all that messy. Clothes were just hanging on almost every available surface.

Annabeth watched as the other girl picked up a purple frilly dress that was hanging on the canopy of one of the beds. She stared at it with a frown on her face before shaking her head and putting it back.

"I thought your cabin ranked second in cabin inspection," Annabeth wondered in confusion. "No offense or anything, but how does this," she gestures around her, "get second?"

Piper laughed haughtily at that. "Oh, no, my dear friend. It was clean before, not a speck of dirt to be seen. Then Will came, took a look at our cabin and when he left, my siblings made quick work of making it look like this."

Seeing nothing in the dresser, Piper moved on to a closet at the back of the cabin and started looking around over there.

"Hey Pipes, are you sure it's okay for me to borrow one of your sisters' dresses? Because I honestly do not want to get on one of their bad sides."

"I am positive. Anyways, they have so much clothing that it would take them a long time to even realize that something is missing!"

Piper crouched down and picked up a dress that looked discarded, lying on the ground in a corner of the medium sized closet. She held it up for Annabeth to see and Annabeth was stunned with how pretty it looked.

It was an orangey gold color, with straps attached to the front center of it in order for it to be tied up behind her neck. It looked like it would fall just about to her knees with a tight bodice and slightly looser skirt part. Piper walked over to hand the dress to the Athena girl and as she walked Annabeth was amazed at how the fabric shimmered lightly with even the slightest movement.

"I remember this one!" cried Piper. "Drew once wore it trying to catch Jason's attention, but when he didn't even look at her, she was so mad she wanted to throw it away." She offered it to Annabeth, then turned away to give her a little bit of privacy so she could change.

Annabeth took off her jeans and shirt and put the dress on. She walked over to the floor length mirror leaning against part of the wall and stared at herself. It was almost as if the dress was made for her. It really pronounced her figure and showed how physically fit she was. The tan in her skin was brought out by the color and so were the streaks in her hair

"Wow," she heard Piper softly breath from behind her. She saw in the mirror as Piper drew closer. She touched the fabric and smoothed it out in the back. Annabeth touched the hem of the dress and loved the feeling of the fabric. It almost felt like water caressing her skin.

"I am definitely wearing this." Annabeth decided that she would go in no other.

* * *

Annabeth walked out of the Athena cabin half an hour before their date to find Percy waiting outside of her door. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her. Her hair was pulled back into a messy chignon and she was without make-up (as per usual). She had gone with a knee length dress that was an orangey/gold color which brought out the blond highlights in her hair due to all the sun she got. Of course she also had her dagger strapped to her left thigh.

Just in case.

Percy was also quite the sight for sore eyes. He wore customary jeans, (so Riptide was always at close hand) and he wore a bluey green shirt that not only matched his eyes, but was also tight enough to show that underneath he was physically fit and gorgeously built. His hair was in that windswept state that it was usually in, which just added to the image. There was no doubt about it, he was _definitely_ the son of a _god_.

They stood like that for five minutes, taking each other in before Percy finally spoke up.

"T-the cab i-is waiting. I called for one t-to peck- pick us up h-here" Tongue-tied. Cute. Annabeth smirked, even though she felt the same way, and Percy flushed. He held out his arm and she took it as he started to walk her down the hill to the waiting taxi.

"Gods, you look… gorgeous." He said to her after they had gotten in the taxi and he had told the driver the place.

"You don't look too bad yourself." She replied. "Where'd you find a shirt like that."

"Would it be emasculating to say that I told Piper that I wanted this and she somehow got it for me?"

Annabeth's eyes widened a fracture. "Are you kidding me? My boyfriend has a sense of style!" She declared mockingly.

"I was just kidding about that part. Piper came knocking on my cabin door earlier with this shirt in hand. I think her mother knows my clothing sizes of something."

"You think Aphrodite made this shirt?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Are _you_ kidding _me_? The label says 'made in Olympus', if _she_ didn't make it, you can punch me in the face."

"You're lying. It does not say made in Olympus!" she accused.

"Sure does, check it if you want."

They continued their banter until the taxi slowed to a stop in front of a restaurant and when Annabeth looked out the window at where they were to get out, her breath caught in her throat.

"Oh my gods, Percy." She managed to choke out.

 **I know there wasn't any action in this chapter, but there will be after the next one or two chapters. As I wrote before, I don't want to rush this. Just like in a good book, It doesn't rush into all the action (though sometimes I wish they would). I want you to get a good picture at the events leading up to the meetings of two worlds.**

 **Oh, and I'm sorry I didn't have any TMI in this chapter, but there will be a TMI POV in the next chapter.**


	2. Creepy Feeling

**Hey. The POV's jump around a bit, just saying.**

 **In this chapter while Percy and Annabeth are on their date, the restaurant is going to be completely made-up, unless a weird coincidence occurred and this place just happens to exist. Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer- I am neither Rick Riordan or Cassandra Clare. Nothing is mine except the plot and the restaurant.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Percy POV**

The look on Annabeth's face was priceless. Her eyes glazed over and her jaw dropped. Percy smiled to himself. He had put a lot of thought into this date. Annabeth continued to look at the building in front of her and Percy looked over too. This place must have been built during those eight months he had been kidnapped and all throughout their long quest because he did not remember it. It had caught Percy's eye when he had been driving back to camp after he had visited his mother at the end of Gaea's war.

"You've outdone yourself, Perseus," Annabeth whispered.

The restaurant was a future architect's dream. It stood two stories tall, with overhanging balconies with tables and chairs. It stood there made of pale grey stone with a couple of thick greek columns on either side of the glass doorway. There were gargoyles on the corners of the roof, with so many different architectural elements. The windows were rectangles, rounded at the top.

Annabeth drifted forward as if she were in a trance. She was still staring open mouthed at the place so, unable to resist the temptation, Percy lifted up his hand and gently shut her mouth for her. That seemed to break her out of her reverie. Different emotions flew across her face so fast that Percy had a difficult time recognizing them, though he was able to make out a few. Happiness, delirium and amazement.

"I can't believe you brought me here." Her voice was two octaves above normal.

"Nothing but the best for you, Wise Girl. Come on, let's go eat." Eagerness took over Annabeth's face as Percy took her hand and led her past the columns, past the crystalline doors and into the foyer.

 **Clary POV**

"Dude, do you have any idea how disgusting that was!" Simon, fuming and slightly green, came walking through the door of the training room closely followed by a bored looking Jace. Simon was the one to speak and it would appear that they were in a heated argument. Then again it was Jace he was talking to and Jace could annoy even the most level-headed person in the world.

Clary gave a sigh and put the knives she was throwing down. Someone was going to need to settle the two of them down.

"Hey, I'm not the one who had to do that everyday to live." Jace, damn Jace, was as cool as he usually was, which only seemed to enraged Simon further.

"Yes, but that does not mean that it's alright to do it now, asshole." He shot back.

Clary took a step forward with her hands on her hips. "Okay," she started, "what happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened," Simon snapped. "I had red kool-aid in my red water bottle, right." Clary nodded, "well, this jackass here thought it would be funny to switch it for-" But he broke off suddenly, the green in his face becoming more noticeable. With that, he turned around and bolted from the room, hands over his mouth.

Clary turned towards Jace to fix him with a glare. "You do know he's a vegetarian, right? Never mind, of course you do! I'd like to tell you that I don't like you treating my _parabatai_ like that. Even if he was a vampire, once."

"Alright." Jace walked towards Clary and caught her in an embrace. Her pulse started to beat a little faster. "Speaking of vampires," Jace began, "I was thinking of showing Simon the graveyard where he was reborn, since he hasn't remembered that night yet. I thought he might want to give it a shot and see what happens."

Clary shivered and not from being cold. "Maybe that's a memory Simon wouldn't want. How he had to dig himself out of that grave. Maybe you shouldn't"

"I don't really agree with that, Clary. I believe that all memories should be remembered, their a part of who we are. The good ones and the bad ones. He's not the exact same as before Asmodeus took his memories, but he's getting there. Not to mention, Isabelle seems slightly unhappy, not sure about what."

"I know," Clary sighed out. "But,-"

Jace cut her off. "It's too late anyways, Clary. I already talked this over with Lewis and he'd like to go to the cemetery. I've already mentioned it to Izzy and Alec. We're going to go tomorrow evening."

 _Okay,_ Clary thought. _We're going to the place where Simon was buried._

"I'll be going with you guys then."

 **Annabeth POV**

Dinner was going great. The food was delicious and the restaurant, Gods the restaurant, it was _amazing_. They were on a balcony since it was a really nice night out, a gentle breeze in the midst of a warm evening. The doors on the balcony were open and Annabeth could see all the guests who were eating inside. This night felt like a dream to her.

But she had a constant feeling that someone was watching her. Of course, she was used to that feeling considering she was a half-blood, but she couldn't figure out who it was and she'd been feeling that way since the waitress had originally come and ordered their refreshments. She looked in through the open doors leading to the balcony at the dozens of other people dining there. Not one of them was looking at her, yet she could feel the burning sensation of someone staring.

She felt Percy's hand cover her own. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"No. This night is perfect." She smiled at him hesitantly and he grinned back.

"Well, you look… I don't know, confused?" He looked slightly worried.

"It feels like someone is watching me," she confessed. "I keep looking around at the other people, except no one is looking at me, or our way for that matter."

"We've finished our meals, what do you say we head on back to camp."

"That sounds great."

Percy signaled over their waitress and payed for the meal. Then they walked into through the doors. As Annabeth passed by the tables and chairs her eyes were drawn to a shadowy corner. As a matter of fact, it looked like the shadows were leaning in towards that corner. For a second, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a man staring at her, from within the shadows embrace but when she turned her full gaze towards that dark corner, there was no man there and the shadows were just as straight as they should be.

Annabeth wanted to stare at the corner some more, but she didn't want to alarm Percy. After all, it was getting late and maybe she was just tired. Yeah, that sounded like safe reasoning. If only she actually felt that way.

* * *

Annabeth crawled into her bed, while Percy watched her already lying on the one next to hers.

"Lights out." She called. It went dark in the cabin and there was some shuffling as the person to turn off the lights shuffled over to their bed.

"Good night, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth whispered.

"Night, Wise Girl." Was his reply.

"See you in the morning."

Percy grunted in reply.

Annabeth tried but could not fall asleep. She turned so that she was facing the wall. Something was bugging her, but she couldn't figure out what. She heard the various snores of her siblings and Percy as they slept while she remained awake.

She shivered and heard a groan come from the floor. She quickly flipped onto her other side so she could see the door. She looked around the room, eyes now adjusted to the dark, but could see nothing out of the ordinary.

 _Silly,_ she chided herself. _This is Camp. It's safe here._

She shifted so she was on her back and forced her eyes shut. But something made her open her eyes again. And when she did, she saw a pale face in the dark, a man. The sme man from the restaurant, the one she thought she'd imagined. The realization hit hard and quick. His hands came down, wrapping themselves around her throat and she realized what was going to happen. He was going to try and kill her.

She snapped into action. She grabbed his arm and sunk her fingernails into it. All the man gave was a clench of the jaw as she dragged her nails down across his skin. Using her right arm she tried to punch him but he fluidly dodged it while keeping the same pressure around her neck. Her lungs were starting to hurt but she couldn't dislodge the man choking her. She tried to lash out at him with her legs but only succeeded in tangling them in her sheets. Her vision was going black around the edges. Her limbs felt so heavy. _Got to wake Percy, s_ he thought desperately.

She felt the stranger take one hand off her neck and her struggle renewed but the man's grip on her throat tightened further. She saw him raise his other hand which now held a knife in it and she felt her arms drop, they were so heavy. She forced her right hand to grab the corner of her pillow. If she was fast enough, she could throw it at Percy and hope that he would wake up. The blade glowed softly. Celestial bronze… but the blade was pointed away from her. She tried to pull the pillow out from under her head, but her attacker had pinned it between the bed and her head. She didn't feel a thing as the knife hilt was smashed against her head.


	3. A Trip To the Graveyard

**Sorry the first two chapters were so short, I type them on a computer but I read fanfictions on my Ipod, so I wasn't really sure how long to make them.**

 **Percy POV**

Percy woke up in the morning to find Annabeth's bed neatly made like any other day. For the first time in a long time he hadn't been woken up during the night. Of course he had gone through his daily night terrors, but he had not been able to rouse himself and was stuck to relive his past.

Half of the time that is what happened. He would be stuck in those memories, then usually awoken by Annabeth crying out or sometimes she would see him thrashing and considerately shake him awake.

He would be lying if he said that it was only her who woke up yelling at night. The other half of the time, it was the other way around. They had a deal actually. If one of them woke up silently in the night, they were to wake up the other. Usually after he or she woke, they were too traumatized to go back to sleep and the other was still going through their personal terrors. Only a couple times before had they both made it through the night without waking.

Percy scanned the cabin, but didn't see his girlfriend. Probably just the washrooms Percy thought. He began to neatly make his bed too, not wanting to make the Athena kids to lose any points during cabin inspection because of him. It was nearly time to head down to breakfast and Annabeth had still failed to make an appearance. Percy went to Malcolm.

"Do you have any idea where Annabeth is? I haven't seen her at all." Percy said.

Malcolm just shrugged it off. "I noticed that too, Percy. I'll send on of my sisters to the girls' washroom, see if she's there."

Malcolm called over one of the girls and asked her to do just that. She came back five minutes later and told them that she hadn't found any signs of her.

Malcolm sighed, "thanks, that's all." He turned to Percy. "She could have gone to Chiron for some reason. Whatever it is, she'll come find us when she's done. It's probably nothing." He sounded convinced.

"Sure," Percy didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't convinced it was 'nothing'. And whatever it was, he would get to the bottom of it.

Percy went about his scheduled activities and tried to pay extra attention to them, to distract himself, but it didn't work considering his ADHD.

He wondered what was going on. It was all he could think of when he was riding Blackjack. Of course, he tried to keep up with the conversation but his mind kept drifting back to her. Closer to the end of this activity, Blackjack had had enough.

 _What is going on? You keep zoning out and then making me repeat what I have to say!_ He snorted.

 _I'm sorry,_ Percy apologized. _It's just that I haven't seen Annabeth all morning and it's making me feel nervous. She doesn't usually skip activities._

 _And you think that something's happened to her?_

 _Yes, no._ Percy internally sighed. _I don't know what to think, but something is going on. That much I know for sure._

 _She could just be sick,_ Blackjack suggested.

 _I don't think so._

 _Don't know Boss, but I'll tell the others to keep their eyes peeled and if we see anything we'll come to you._

Blackjack flew to the close to the ground and landed with a soft thump, trotting forward a few steps.

 _Thanks for listening to me. I've got to head to greek mythology now. See you later._

 _Anytime, Boss. Oh, and if you ever want to bring me some donuts, I wouldn't mind that a bit._

 _Alright._ Percy chuckled.

Percy went to the Big House for Greek Mythology. When he got there however, it was Chiron waiting for him. He tried to not show how deflated he was by this.

"Chiron, do you know where Annabeth is?" He was desperate for answers.

"No, I'm afraid I don't, my boy. She hasn't been here all morning. It's not like her at all."

"Something fishy is going on, Chiron. No pun intended."

They got started with his lesson, though he didn't pay that much attention to it.

During lunch Percy ate in silence, after giving his offering to his father, he had also provided an offering to Artemis to ask for Annabeth's safety and wellbeing. He hoped that she didn't need it at all. He finished his meal and got up meaning to head for his cabin but he saw Malcolm get up and start walking towards him. The look on his face was troubled.

"Malcolm, what happened?" Percy asked, worried.

"Nothing." Percy let loose a relieved sigh. "But that's the thing," Malcolm continued. "She hasn't been to any activities and no one I've asked has seen her. If something happened that made her have to leave, she would have left a note."  
Percy decided to give Blackjack's idea a shot. "Could she be sick?"

Malcolm shook his head. "I already thought of that. We passed the Apollo cabin earlier and I asked Will if he'd seen her at all. Obviously you know if he did or not."

Percy closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. "Thanks for the update."

When he opened his eyes again, Malcolm was studying him and had a weird look on his face that Percy didn't like.

"What's up?" Percy nervously asked.

"It just seems suspiciously like what happened to you, all those months ago."  
Percy's mouth went dry. "You can't possibly think that I had something to do wi-"

"No," Malcolm exclaimed. "I didn't mean for you to take it that way. No, what I meant is that this is like what happened after you disappeared. You didn't show up for activities, no one had seen you since the previous night and people got worried after a while. Then we checked your cabin to find no sign of struggle. You were just… gone."  
Percy saw where the Athena boy was going with this. "You think Annabeth was kidnapped?"

"Maybe, it is definitely a possibility."

"Then what should we do?"

"Well, I don't see anything that we can do, not without any clues. Nearly nothing is known. We just gonna have to wait."  
"Do you have any other theories? Have you told anyone else about this idea?"

"Yes, I have several, but they all seem unlikely. And no, I haven't told anyone, although a lot of people are probably thinking it. It would probably cause some panic amongst the little kids, if someone could sneak into camp and take off with one of our best fighters, unnoticed." Malcolm paused. "But, if my theory is right, we do know one thing."

"What's that?"

"Whoever took her is either a god or a demigod. No one else can get past the border and a monster would probably not bother with subtly. Her bed was made this morning. A monster wouldn't have done that."

"Well, she could have been lured outside and attacked."  
"No, Percy, we would have heard if she was attacked."

Percy groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I'm gonna go to my cabin. Maybe ask my father for guidance." He removed his hands and Malcolm clapped him on his shoulder.

"Hey," Malcolm said. "She's gonna be alright." And he walked off towards his siblings.

Percy felt drained so he headed off to his cabin, like he said he would. He shut the door firmly, instead of slamming it like he really wanted to do. He slammed his fist into one of the walls instead. He felt his knuckles sting and warm blood start to roll along his fingers.

Percy walked to his bed and flopped onto it, face first. However, when he landed on the pillow, he heard a crinkling sound. He reached his hand underneath his pillow and pulled out a folded piece of paper. With a feeling of dread, he opened it up and his heart stopped.

It was written in ancient Greek so he naturally understood it.

 _I took the liberty of writing this in Greek so you would not get any of the instructions wrong._

 _Come to the cemetery on the outskirts of Queens at 9:30. Come alone. Continue to act normally and don't even think about telling anyone about this note because if you do, I will not only kill the person you told but Annabeth as well._

 _Just saying, I have my ways of finding out about stuff like this, so you've been warned._

Percy reread the note two times, feeling sicker each time. Normal. How the hell does a guy act normal when he's just gotten a note like this. He balled the note up in his hand and threw it across his cabin. One thing was for certain. He couldn't tell anyone about the note. Not if he wanted to risk their life in the process. He didn't know if it was a bluff, but he couldn't risk it. He felt fury and hopeless and a pinch of fear. Fear for the one he loved. Fury, that Annabeth was being used to get to him. That he hadn't been able to help her. That bad things kept happening to them.

He also felt tired. Why weren't they able to catch a break. Go a bloody year without some war, or kidnapping. Percy grabbed his pillow, seeing as though it was the closest thing to him, and threw it with all his strength. When he looked down at where the pillow had been, he saw a lock of blond hair. And that unleashed the ocean of emotion that had been building up all morning.

 **Jace POV**

Jace was in an unusually understanding mood that afternoon. Then again, he had been spending a good portion of his morning making out with Clary. Yeah, that was probably the reason why he was being nicer to Lewis then usual.

He sat in the kitchen with a plate full of the pizza they had ordered. It tasted good. Especially considering Izzy had made lunch. Jace inwardly shuddered as he thought about that subject.

"Okay, so when do you guys want to leave?" Clary, across the kitchen, asked.

Jace looked over at the clock. "How about nine," he suggested.

Simon looked up from where he and Isabelle were standing, leaning against the counter. Alec stood a few feet down from them eating a Hawaiian pizza.

"Why are we going this late in the evening?" Simon said.

All eyes turned to Jace. "Didn't you know, we're going for the effect," he said dramatically "Showing you the place you were reborn as an undead vampire, in the midst of night. I hope you're all bringing sleeping bags cause I plan on having a campfire and telling spooky stories and all that camping fun."

The others just looked around at each other until Alec spoke up. "You're not seriously planning on making us sleep in a graveyard, are you?"

"By the Angel, why the hell would I actually do that? Do you know what sleeping in a graveyard would do to my radiant skin?"

"Okay, okay," Simon cut in. "Seriously, why are we going so late and why are you all coming?"

Clary looked pretty serious as she said, "Because we're friends and we look out for each other, Simon. Though I'll admit I'm not sure why Jace and Alec are coming," she added.

Alec looked up from his plate. "Magnus has a client at his place and I have no plans." _And so I can keep an eye on all of you,_ were the unspoken words in that sentence.

"And to answer your first question, everyone was pretty busy through most of the day," Jace supplied.

"Should we bring any weapons?" Clary looked up at Jace. "We probably won't need them but better safe than sorry."

Oh man, Jace absolutely _loved_ this girl, the way she thought of bringing weapons along. That definitely got his motor running. He gave her a smile that matched how he was feeling on the inside. He also loved it when she flushed like the way she was right now.

"That," the golden boy said slowly, "is a positively fantastic idea."

Alec snorted. "Your gonna give the poor girl a heart attack. Look at her."

"She's young, she can handle it. You know, that is exactly why I stay away from old people homes. The elderly wouldn't be able to handle me and would die in their chairs from such an event." Jace said it all so innocently.

"Oh, please," Isabelle started, "You would totally go into an old folks home just to see that actually happen."

"Yes. Yes I would!"

~9:20~

"Are you all ready yet?" Jace looked around and tapped his foot on the ground. They were in the library and his good mood was starting to wear off. Not to mention he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

It had taken a good half an hour for everyone to have gotten ready. Simon and Alec both had a bow each, Izzy has her whip and Clary with her Morgenstern sword and a seraph blade. He himself had two seraph blades and each of them had a stele. As well, everyone was given the mark to keep the mundies from seeing them. Considering they were breaking into a graveyard.

Clary answered after doing a small inventory check of herself and all the others. "Yeah, I think so." She walked over to an empty wall and drew the mark to make a portal. Isabelle seemed to be fussing over Simon for some reason. Alec had piled some books that were strewn across the desk and was currently sitting down on a corner of it.

"Done!" Clary announced.

Everyone made their way across the floor to the portal. Jace reached it before the others, with the exception of Clary, and stepped through it with her. The street they stepped out onto was dark, none of the street lights were on.

"Creepy." Clary commented. Then she gave a little yelp and took a couple of steps forward. Jace spun around to see Isabelle appear from the portal and Lewis standing right behind Clary.

"You stepped on my heel," she groaned, hopping on one foot while massaging the other.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you would be standing right there."

"'S okay, I'll live. Maybe." She hobbled down the sidewalk and the others also moved down to make more room for Alec. He came through a moment later and the portal closed up behind him. He took a step forward but stumbled over something.

"Why the hell is it so dark? The lights can't all be burnt out!"

All of the teenagers stopped moving around to survey the scene in front of them. With none of them speaking it is extremely quiet with nothing but distant traffic making a noise. An alleyway was a good ten feet from them. And as Alec had pointed out almost all of the lights for about a block were dead and the sun has just gone down. With no cars coming in this direction, the place looked deserted.

"I can't stand this anymore," Simon said, breaking the creepy silence. "Lets all agree right now that this is weird."

"Amen to that," Clary murmured.

A stray piece of trash floated by, carried by a light wind.

"Are we still going to do this or not?" Alec asked as he reached for his bow. "Cause if we're not, I think that Magnus is done with his client."

Jace thought it over for a while. "I think that we should still go. Nothing shall keep us from that cemetery," he announced. "Unless it is guarded by a patrol duck!"

"What's a 'patrol duck'?" Alec asked.

"I thought the concept was self-explanatory. It is a duck that patrols-"

"Okay," Simon interrupted. "Are we gonna do this or are we just gonna stand here and talk about it?" With that, Jace observed Lewis as he took a tentave step onto the road.

"Wait!" Clary said. She had taken a few steps up the sidewalk and was staring up the block. Jace could see a car driving in this direction.

The ex-mundane, ex-vampire looked a little startled about her sudden outburst and quickly stepped back onto the sidewalk. "Why? The car is a far enough away, so no one should have a chance of getting hit."

Jace swung his vision towards Clary and saw her staring at the car again. She was frowning slightly. "Let's just wait until it passes," was all she said.

But it didn't. Now that it was much closer the group could make out that it was a taxi. It stopped a couple blocks ahead of them and someone got out. The person handed the driver some money and then they all watched as the car continued down the road.

They all watched the person start walking down the sidewalk. They could see now the mysterious person was a guy. He had his hood up, though it was still pretty nice out and there was no need for it. His shoulders were hunched and he kept his head down as if he was walking into a strong wind. All in all, Jace did not like the looks of this guy and his gut was saying something along similar lines.

"Hmm," he mused aloud. "Follow me. You guys all have a mark to keep them from seeing you, right?"

The others looked questioningly at him and said "yes". He led them towards the figure, still walking in their direction. He stepped into the alleyway's mouth and leaned against a wall while the others filed in after him.

"Why are we hiding out here," Isabelle sniffed.

"Cause I want to see what this guy is up to, for some strange reason." The stranger was a good twenty feet from the alley.

"Hmf, you could've picked a cleaner place to creep on him," She said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

The guy was now crossing the alleyway. Up close Jace could see dark, longish hair. His mouth was set. He had a build that made Jace think that he worked out a lot. He was wearing a black hoodie, but Jace could see a bit of an orange shirt underneath with a pair of jeans. He looked about Alec's age, eighteen.

As if he could feel them all sizing him up he slowed to a stop in front of them, his hand drifting to his right pocket. His face was still pointed straight ahead, but Jace could see that he was looking into the alley with his peripheral vision. Then he swung his full vision onto them. A look of confusion crossed his face.

It was almost as if he had caught a glimpse of them.

Through the quickly fading light, Jace could see that the guy's eyes were a sea green. Then he turned back the way he was going and continued to trudge forward. Jace took a few steps out and onto the sidewalk. He felt the others do the same. The boy had reached the spot where they had originally been standing then he started crossing the road. For some reason, Jace knew where he was going.

"Oooh, man," Isabelle breathed out, fanning herself. "He was _hot_."

"I agree with you," Clary joined in.

"He wasn't that bad," Alec grudgingly agreed.

"Hold on- where is he headed?" Simon piped up.

Jace answered the question. "The cemetery." He was starting to get a really bad feeling about this, but his gut was also telling him to do something. "Let's follow him."

 **Ta Da. Sorry this chapter took so long. I was enjoying summer a little too much.**

 **-killerwisdom**


	4. Stalkers, Stalkers

**I am so sorry this chapter has taken this long to be posted. As I wrote in my note before, my laptop failed. However, I actually re-wrote the whole chapter, because I love guys that much ;). Thank you** _ **so so so**_ **much for all the reviews, they really got me moving on this chapter.**

 **Since my chapters have been updated at completely random times, I will try to start making deadlines. Hope you enjoy.**

 **Anyways, Disclaimers: I am not Cassandra Clare or Rick Riordan, therefore I do not own the Nephilim or the Demigods, Now, without further ado,**

Translations- Σκατά (pronounced skatá)- shit

 **Chapter Four**

 **Percy POV**

Ever since he had gotten out of the taxi, his sense of unease had been growing. With each step he took closer to the graveyard, the temperature seemed to drop, ever so subtly. Then, he had crossed before that alleyway and had been _positive_ that he had seen something out of the corner of his eye but when he turned his full attention on the alley, it had revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Percy might've blamed it on nerves but he knew better than to do that.

He'd passed the alley, continued down the sidewalk for a few paces before turning and walked across the street to the piece of property that was the graveyard. So, here he was standing by the iron wrought fence, feeling the back of his neck burn as he was watched by something he couldn't see. Great, just add that to the rest of his problems.

He stuck his hand up into his sweater to feel the material of Annabeth's Yankees hat. He wanted really badly to put it on then and there, but knew it wouldn't be smart in case he really was being watched, which he surely was. He didn't want to ruin his element of surprise. The sheath of her dagger also greeted his fingertips. He retracted his fingers from his hoodie.

He was only a little ways away from the entrance to the gate. It was so cold now that Percy was surprised that he wasn't able to see his breath as he exhaled. Slowing down, he stopped in front of the fence, a little ways from the gate and bowed his head to rest it on the fence. The metal was strangely warm against his ice-cold skin.

 _What would Annabeth do if our roles were switched,_ Percy wondered. Well, that was obvious. She would think up a really kickass plan. The problem was that Percy couldn't think of anything. He had spent the entire cab ride trying to think of what to do but had pulled a blank. This situation was extremely stressful and he wasn't good at making plans under stressful conditions. Not that he was any good at making tactical kickass plans in general. The only thing he'd been able to work out was that he would scout out the property.

Feeling a little nauseous, he breathed in and out deeply. No plan, basically. That meant that he would have to do what he was best at. Improv. _Man, Annabeth would be so ticked off,_ Percy thought glumly.

He felt a sudden burst of rage. Why couldn't they have one effing silent year? No quests, no war, no battles, no wondering what the next hour would bring and if one of your loved ones would be hurt or worse. He felt a yell of rage start in his throat but he fought it back, struggling to keep his emotions under check. All that was left when these emotions flew away from him was bitterness. And a promise that he would beat the σκατά out of the person that had taken her.

The Fates were so unfair. Finally, Percy had seen a light at the end of a dark tunnel. There was no threatening prophecy lurking around, no extraordinary changes at camp other than the exchange system. Him and Annabeth could attend college free of monsters. But even that future was looking slightly bleak now.

Percy lifted his head from the railing and started towards the gate. His watch read that it was roughly 9:25. He didn't have time for anymore dilly-dallying.

There were trees and bushes lined up neatly along the fence to try and give this place a lighter, happier look, Percy decided. Not that it mattered considering the sunken sun was casting long, creepy shadows. He gently pushed against the gate, but it was locked, not to mention he felt a pressure that usually indicated that it would squeak loudly if he continued to push on it.

He continued up the sidewalk walking alongside the black metal fence in the dull light. He stopped the urge to shiver from the temperature. He was starting to wish he had brought a jacket. Except that the coldness seemed to penetrate further into him than just his skin. It seemed to touch his bones and run through his bloodstream.

The corner of the graveyard where the front and side gate met up was nice and shaded in. It looked pitch black and Percy couldn't see into the shadows. It was perfect.

After glancing up and down the sidewalk, and eyeing up the alleyway, to make sure there was no one there to watch him, he quickly scaled the chest-high fence and landed lightly on the other side. He stooped down and went further into the shadows, away from any prying eyes. He rubbed his hands a little to try to warm them, then pulled Annabeth's hat from his sweater. Relief flooded into Percy as he could no longer feel himself being watched. The cap was set for his girlfriends head size so he had to adjust it before slipping it on to his own head. He didn't feel any different and it was still a shock to look down and not see his body. It was bizarre, really, to feel all his limbs yet see nothing. He smirked. _Try to watch me now, will you,_ Percy thought in grim satisfaction.

He left his place in the shrubs and silently took in the scene around him. All he could see were tombstones, grave markers and even a few mausoleums in neat, tidy rows. Though, he wasn't all that sure what he was even looking for. A stranger holding a knife to Annabeth's throat, maybe? Percy started walking along one row and then made to step over one tombstone. One foot cleared the stone slab, but the other didn't. He lurched forwards in order to keep his balance.

"σκατά!" He cursed quietly. The invisibility was gonna need some getting used to.

Percy had walked forwards a couple of rows when suddenly a giant wave of fog rolled in and blanketed the entire expanse of the graveyard in a thick layer of mist that rose to about five feet off the ground. The mist dampened Percy's clothes in a matter of seconds. Add that to the fact that he could just barely see the ground and that he could only see roughly three feet in front of him.

He continued on undeterred by the mysterious mist, though it did seem to get his mind going. Whoever was here, most likely Annabeth's kidnapper, they must have some sort of power. This wasn't just some natural phenomenon, especially considering that it only covered the graveyard and showed up almost as soon as he got there. As a demigod, you learn not to believe in coincidences.

He continued walking forwards, towards the back of the graveyard. If she was bound to be anywhere, it would be closer to the back.

He passed by one of the mausoleums he'd seen earlier and decided to check around all the other sides, before continuing his way to the back. After about five minutes of carefully walking across the rows of graves, Percy decided that he was probably more than halfway across the cemetery. He was starting to get nervous, clenching and unclenching his hands. His right hand kept unconsciously reaching for Riptide but he refrained from pulling it out. He didn't want to give the kidnapper any reason to hurt Annabeth, even if he couldn't be seen. He plowed onwards.

Percy glanced up at the bright moon in the sky and whispered a prayer for Annabeth's safety. The fog had just started making Percy feel claustrophobic when it started to slowly soften around him. As he continued the fog just kept getting lighter. Percy hurried along, anxiously, until he saw something that made him stop dead.

Her head was down, golden hair blocking her face from view. She was sitting on a straight-backed heavy wooden chair, manacles holding her arms and legs to the chairs'.

Percy was horrified. Even from his distance he could see where she'd rubbed away the skin trying to free herself from the unforgiving metal. Her hair was messy, leaves and twigs snagged in her hair and she was still wearing the pajamas that she had gone to bed in last night, which were ripped and torn in several places.

"Annabeth," he whispered.

Her hair fell back as she lifted her head up slowly, her eyes roaming wild while her head remained still. She was gagged, but that didn't faze him. Then the next thing he knew he was running to her. He didn't care that it wasn't smart, didn't care that the kidnapper was in the same general area as him, and didn't care that Annabeth was staring at the area that he was charging in from, with her beautiful gray eyes widened in war ning and her gorgeous blonde hair whipping against her face as she shook her head wildly.

He was so close. As he vaulted over a gravestone and landed, Percy felt something get tangled around one of his ankles. His momentum got the best of him and for a moment he was perfectly horizontal with the ground. Annabeth's hat was torn from his head at the sudden stop and then gravity took hold of him again.

He would have cracked his head against a gravestone in the next row ahead, but his reflexes kicked in. His now visible arm reached out and he used the tombstone to push himself off of his collision course. He heard the rattle of the pills in his pocket as he hit the ground and the wind left him. He gasped for air as he lay on his back in between two stones.

Simultaneously, dirt flew into the air and showered him as he felt something tight constrict around his other ankle and his wrists, leaving him pinned to the ground, eagle-spread. Percy struggled but couldn't dislodge whatever was on him. He lifted his head to see what it was and was completely shocked. What shone in the light was not what he had expected. He could make out the bones of a hand gripping his wrist and securing it against the ground. The rest of the arm disappeared into a hole in the ground. Percy checked each limb and sure enough, there they were. Three other skeletal hands. One of them looked like it was in the middle of decomposition with chunks of flesh still clinging to the skeletal frames while the bones of the others were tinged yellow.

Percy heard a grunting noise from in front of him. He glanced up to see Annabeth pointedly staring off into the shadows. He swung his vision just in time to see a shadow detach itself from the others. It started gliding towards them and as it got closer the cloud of darkness started to shape itself, until it revealed a man.

 **Alec POV**

Alec had no idea why they were stalking the mundie. And at this point, he was starting to wish that he had gone to Magnus's instead. Even if he had to just wait outside the door since whatever Magnus was doing was confidential, between him and his client. He didn't even like Lewis that much. The only reason he came was to make sure that all of them behaved.

Then the dark-haired mystery guy passed them and Jace decided to follow him. So here they were, hiding in the midst of some trees and bushes. After the guy had walked across the street, Jace had started tailing him. Obviously, the rest of them had also followed. Alec knew that they were going to the cemetery anyways, but he didn't get why Jace was so keen on finding out what this guy was up to.

The boy had jumped the fence and when the shadowhunters had followed, he was gone. And then the fog had come. There was something supernatural about it, Alec knew.

He watched as Jace's brow furrowed, and the others had similar looks of a dark wonder written across their faces. They all had the same unvoiced question going through their minds. _What was going on here?_

"So what now?" Simon questioned.

Jace took a moment before answering. "We'll hug the tree line, stay in the dark." Then he added as an afterthought, "I really don't like how he'd glanced right at where we were. He'd seen us, even if it was just a glimpse."

After a quick glance at Isabelle's necklace, Jace padded deeper into the cemetery keeping close to the shadows. Alec started thinking as the five of them made their way into the thick fog, silent as ghosts. To make this fog appear, just like that, magic would have been needed. So a Warlock would be needed, though maybe, just maybe, a ghost may have chosen to take their ectoplasmic form. Alec mulled over those thoughts, but then discarded the ghost theory. They sucked the heat from their surroundings, they didn't create patches of fog and it was still pretty warm out.

When the group came to a stop, Alec didn't notice until he plowed into Clary, nearly knocking her down.

"Sorry," he muttered, then he noticed why they had stopped. The fog was slowly being sucked into the ground, giving them a clear view of the graveyard.

And the three people already in it.

It was a disturbing scene in Alec's opinion. The mystery boy was thrashing on the ground, for some unknown reason, close to the feet of a blonde girl, manacled to a chair. She looked to be in rough shape. The third person was a man, standing ramrod straight with his back to them, his arms crossed in the front.

"What the hell?" Isabelle said with narrowed eyes.

Jace had a contemptuous look on his face. "Mundies messing with magic again. What would it take for them to realise that nothing good comes of magic. Now, my guess is that man there is a warlock. He's planning on summoning up a beastie and then will feed the two teens to it. It would definitely serve them right," he added darkly.

"Jace," Clary exclaimed.

Jace glanced at her. "Then again, I don't see a pentagram, so it could be just a regular mundane thing going on."  
Clary raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything. All of them stood and watched as the man went to stand right beside the boy. The man bent down and reached into one of the boys pockets, withdrawing a thin, oblong shape. The man held on to it. The boy fought even harder at that until the man kicked him viciously in the side.

Upon a closer inspection of the man, Alec could see a scabbard against the man's back. It hadn't been seen before because it was a deep black and the man's jacket was the same color, as was everything he wore. Alec judged the weapon to be a broadsword. His arms were thick with muscle, as were his legs.

"Even if it is a _mundane_ thing," Simon began, "we have to help them!"

But Jace was watching the three, possibly two, mundanes with a cautious curiosity. "Let's not help them right at this moment," he said slowly.

"Why not?" Clary demanded.

The man had now drawn a knife from the inside of his coat and was walking around the girl in the chair, letting the knife lightly drag across her throat. The girl just stiffened up and stared stonily ahead, not betraying any fear that she must have been feeling. Alec could have sworn the knife was emitting a bronze glow. And then he got his first glimpse of the man's face. It was normal enough but really pale, just not vampire pale.

Finally, the boy said the first thing that the little group of shadowhunters could actually hear and make out words from.

"NO, NO. I DID WHAT YOU SAID!" He sounded frantic.

"Because I want to see what happens," Jace finished.

"Jace," Alec warned.

The man used the hilt to knock the girl out cold. Then he turned to face the boy again and said just loud enough for the teens to hear.

"If you did everything I asked, then why are there five extra people here. You know the price." He added coldly.

The boy's face went from fear to confusion and back again. "I never brought them here. I didn't know about them. I swear on the River Styx. DON"T HURT HER!"

"No matter," was the reply he got. "You shall all be dead anyways."

Meanwhile Alec was frozen with shock that they had been called out. So shocked that he was only dimly aware of Isabelle's necklace pulsing. After a second however, he shook himself from his initial surprise and had enough sense to duck when Jace yelled out his name. It seemed that all of them had momentarily been stunned by what had been revealed.

All Alec saw was a dark shadow on the ground, and then Jace was there, giving a killing blow with one of his Seraph blades. It melted away into darkness, only to be replaced with two more demons. Alec whipped the bow from his shoulders and nocked an arrow in less than a second. He took aim at the one behind Clary, who was going to help Simon, and fired. It followed its kin to back to the demon realm. Isabelle took care of demon number three with a quick flick of her wrist.

All was silent for a second as the five of them turned in unison and began to advance upon the mysterious man. Alec saw the man start moving methodically around the boy in a slow circle. A pale hand reached into its jacket and pulled out a silver dagger.

Two forsaken appeared from the darkness, on the other side of the cemetery as well as two more demons a couple of feet away. Another arrow was nocked on Alec's bow just as one sprang at Clary's back. This time however Alec's arrow was joined by a second arrow and a throwing knife. He saw Jace finish the last one off, flipping over and behind and stabbing it through the back.

The forsaken let out two loud bone-rattling roars as they charged forwards. Those roars were quickly answered by another, different two. A duo of hellhounds sprung from the shadows, sprinting alongside the forsaken. As the shadowhunters charged forwards to meet their enemies, Alec couldn't help but note that the hellhounds looked somehow... _different._ They lacked the spikes on their tails and these ones were definitely bigger. Each was the size of a cab, no question about it.

Alec could see the man speaking, but couldn't hear what was being said over the noise. Nothing interrupted the man speaking, and he didn't stop for longer than to take a breath. Then Alec realized what was going on. The man wasn't just speaking; he was chanting. They'd interrupted a _ritual._ A _sacrifice._

Arrows were loosed immediately by Simon and Alec while Isabelle slashed the creatures with her whip. Alec caught a glimpse of Jace darting past the jaws of one of the hellhounds, only to lose track of him again. One of the hounds, with a bleeding gash across its face, charged at Alec. There wasn't enough time to tell anyone this new revelation, Alec knew.

He stood his ground and carefully took aim of his target. He released the arrow and it flew true. It lodged itself straight in the eye of the demonic dog. _Bulls-eye_ , Alec thought grimly. But then something strange happened.

The dog still had its momentum and Alec was right in its way. And as Alec flipped out of the way, it burst into golden dust. His arrow fell from where it had landed a moment ago, but Alec didn't retrieve it. That had never happened before, they were supposed to melt into darkness. A cold feeling went over Alec, as if he had been plunged into cold water. They were dealing with something else, something new. He could feel it in his gut. And as Sebastian and his Dark Hunters had shown them, an enemy with something new to offer was always dangerous.

The surprise wearing off, Alec grabbed his arrow and took in his surroundings. Isabelle and Simon had the other hellhound while Clary and Jace took on the one remaining Forsaken. Alec turned his attention to the mystery man, who was kneeling to the side of the boy. The guy was thrashing with renewed vigor but he wasn't able to move for some reason. Mystery man was paler than before and shaking with fury, but still he never stopped chanting. How did Alec know it was fury? To say that the man was glaring daggers at Alec would be an understatement.

Alec started sprinting for the three as the man slowly rose his arms, holding the dagger between both his hands.

Something caught around his ankle and he went down. He managed to keep his bow in his hand but most of his arrows were scattered, leaving only two close enough for Alec to reach. He fumbled for one and managed to pick it up and string it as he adopted a kneeling position. As the man plunged the fancy dagger down, Alec fired.

It hit the flat of the blade, knocking it off its intended course just in time. Instead of the dagger going into the guy's heart, it sank about an inch above. A loud muffled groan sounded from the boy.

Alec snatched at the remaining arrow as he felt something else wrap around his other ankle. No time to see what it was, Alec sighted his target that had pulled the knife out of the boy's chest. Alec waited for the dagger to plunge back down before he shot.

His last arrow, the boy's last hope, flew true and struck the man's forearm. He bared back his lips and snarled in pain and the knife fell from his grip. It landed, blade first, right where the boy's heart was. It didn't sink that far in, but it looked like it penetrated a good inch. The boy tensed up but didn't make a noise.

Whatever had snagged Alec's ankle had loosened when the man had howled in pain and Alec used the sudden weakness to tear himself away from whatever it was. A golden blur passed by Alec and went charging at the man.

Alec sprinted after Jace and could do nothing but watch as the man snatched the dagger from its resting place and he in turn start sprinting. Jace followed while Alec stayed to tend to the boy.

The first wound was bleeding profusely and was very deep while the second wound was bleeding only slightly less and already blood was soaking the ground that Alec had decided to kneel upon. Alec heard several people racing towards him.

"What happened," Isabelle asked, aghast.

Alec looked at her grimly as he removed his sweater. "We interrupted a ritual. He was going to be sacrificed," he nodded at the boy.

Simon looked slightly sick as he saw the amount blood spewing from the wounds.

"Get the girl!" Alec ordered to no one in particular as he firmly held his sweater against the bleeding. As the blonde girl was gently lowered to the ground by Simon, Jace appeared looking downright furious.

"He got away," he spat in answer to the group's unspoken question. "He ran and dived behind a mausoleum. I only got there, like, three seconds later. He was gone, there was no sign of where the damn coward went."

Isabelle was tending to the girl, who looked to be about 18 or something. "Is she looking good, Izzy?" Alec asked.

She nodded and said "She's bleeding from a head wound, but she'll most likely live."

"The same can't be said for this one," Alec said. "We're gonna need to take him to Magnus's. Clary start making a portal."

As Clary rushed off to a nearby tree with her stele out, Jace crouched right beside Alec. His brows scrunched together and he took out his witchlight. It shone its white light as Jace focused on the guy's wrist. Or more accurately, what was around the guy's wrist. They were yellowish, brittle, and sticking up from the ground. Bones.

Jace pried the fingers away from the boy's skin, revealing a large purple bruise.

"Isabelle," Alec called. "Help us out here." He applied more pressure onto the wound as he said this.

Isabelle came and started peeling back the fingers from the boy's body.

Then Jace did something weird. He stuffed his hand into the guy's right jean pocket.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alec wondered.

"I'm checking to see if there's any clues to what this guy was doing." Jace said as he pulled out a regular pen. He moved on to the next pocket and pulled out a wallet. Jace peeked inside and said "Well, we know _who_ it is. The guy's name is Perseus Jackson." Then he produced something else from his Perseus's pocket. He held up the little orange container and read in the bright moonlight, "Fluoxetine."

Two more similar containers were also pulled from the pocket labeled Antidepressants and Prazosin. Jace raised an eyebrow at this.

"So he's a druggie," he commented. "Hey, Simon, what is this for?" He held up the Fluoxentine and Prazosin containers.

"Do I look like a doctor?" Simon snapped still looking a little off. Jace pocketed the pills then started rolling up the guy's right sleeve.

"Now what are you doing," Alec demanded, exasperated.

"I am checking to see if he's part of a gang, if you must know. Maybe he has a tattoo. It's supposed to be common for gang members to have them. Right?"

Since that arm didn't reveal anything, Jace put the sleeve back and got to work on the other sleeve.

"Bingo," Jace murmured.

There it was on Perseus's forearm. It read SPQR with a trident and one vertical line under that.

"Well," Jace said gesturing to the tattoo. "There you have it. The guy's in a gang. Do you still want to bring him to Magnus's?"

Alec thought about it for a moment. "Clary, is that portal ready?" he asked.

"It's been ready for a while, I just wanted to give you guy's some time to finish checking the guy out."

"Magnus can handle himself. And we can stay there overnight just in case." Alec reasoned. "He would be no match for any of us. Well, maybe Simon."

Simon made an annoyed noise at that.

Alec watched as Jace gazed intently at the tattoo. "What is it?" he asked.

Jace just scrunched up his eyebrows before replying. "Those letters seem, I don't know, familiar. But I can't remember what they mean." Jace's fingers brushed against the letters, as if he was willing himself to remember what they were. As soon as Jace's fingers made contact, however, the boy, Perseus, jolted awake and grabbed Jace's arm, gripping it tightly.

"N-nico. Bro-brother," He weakly groaned. His eyelids opened revealing sea-green irises. Alec also noticed the dark shadows under his eyes. He made eye contact with Jace and clenched up suddenly, as if he recognized Jace and they had had a really bad run-in. Hatred surged behind his eyes. "G-go back t- to Tart-"He coughed out, but before he could finish his sentence, he passed out.

Jace looked confused as Alec touched the wounded boy's forehead. It was cold and clammy and deathly white.

"Jace," Alec ordered. "Grab his feet."

Jace complied while Alec grabbed the guy's shoulders. Together they lifted and grunted. This guy weighed a ton. Clary passed them and picked up something from the ground a couple of feet away from where they now stood. It was a baseball cap. Alec saw Simon and Isabelle get the blonde before he and Jace went and stepped through the portal with an anxious Clary following right behind them.

 **I hope you guys enjoyed that.**

 **P.S it took me about five days to type this all up. I spent a lot of time on it so I could present it to you people.**

 **If there was something wrong with it that you didn't like e.i it was too long or wordy, just review on it and I will try to fix my mistakes in the next chapter. But please don't be mean. I am looking for ways to improve, not to be discouraged by rude comments.**

 **KillerWisdom Nightshade**


	5. Sleepover at Magnus's

**School has been absolute _murder!_ Honestly, I find I can't seem to get enough time to write these chapters quicker. I'll try to write the next chapter faster but i'm not making any promises.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Guest: IDK. I'm not following the dates of when the books took place. I just kinda imagine that Percy and Annabeth would be slightly older than Jace and his gang, (besides Alec). So just to clear up, I am not using their _real_ ages.**

 **Limegreenarcher: Thanks for the tip about the arrow thing, I was just attempting to use a different word instead of being repetitive with the same vocabulary. And I know that they are not brothers. It will make sense in a later chapter. Thnx for the tips though.**

 **Everyone else who reviewed thnx so so much for all your comments, you are all really great. And a thank you to all of you who are following or added it to your favorites.**

 **Once again, I do not own Rick Riordan's characters or Cassandra Clare's.**

 **Now presenting without further ado,**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Clary POV**

They stepped into Magnus's living room to find him curled up on his couch, wearing a horribly over-glittered shirt and holding a novel in his right hand.

Without looking up from his book, Magnus said exasperatedly, "Would it kill you to use the door-"

"Magnus!" Clary cut him off. "We need your help. Now!"

He looked up at her outburst and paled when he saw the mess. Blood was slowly dripping from the boy onto Magnus's carpet. Magnus was up in a flash, carelessly tossing his book to the floor. He went for Alec first, despite the more grievously wounded boy.

"Are you okay," he urgently asked, grabbing Alec by the shoulders and giving him a quick glance up and down. "What happened?"

Alec was about to answer but Jace beat him to it.

"Oh, he's perfectly fine, but by all means go right ahead and catch up on the day's events. Why don't you go put on a pot of coffee while you're at it and he'll tell you all about training to, and I'll just stay here and support the guy who's bleeding to death," he finished, his voice like acid.

"Jace!" Clary snapped, while Magnus stared coldly at him and releasing his grip on Alec.

"Maybe I will. I am not your Warlock pet, Shadowhunter. Anyways, what's one life to me? We all die sooner or later," Magnus said in a careless tone.  
Alec caught one of his arms while supporting this _Perseus_. "Magnus," he pleaded. "Please."

It was that moment that Simon and Isabelle came through, supporting the still unconscious girl.

"For the love of God, this is not a hospital," Magnus bellowed, obviously annoyed. "Very well," he said grouchily. "We're gonna need to hurry, he doesn't have much time left by the looks of it."

He led them off to the kitchen, where he just waved his hand at the table and everything on it disappeared in a flash of blue sparks. "Lay him on it," he ordered. "Does the girl have any bad injuries?"  
"Just some minor scrapes and bruises. Although she has two bumps on her head from being knocked out, I'd imagine." Isabelle reported this matter-of-factly, as Jace and Alec gently lowered the boy onto the tabletop, as Magnus had ordered. "What should we do with her?"

Magnus waved one of his arms dismissively back towards his living room, while the other was pushed through his hair. "Lay her down on the couch." He unzipped the boy's dark hoodie, most of it now stained dark red, and took it off of the boy's unmoving body. Clary could hear the loud rasping breaths and see the blood trailing from his slightly-open mouth. He was so pale and that worried Clary so much. The scarlet stood out so much against the boy's orange shirt. Clary's breathing turned harsher the longer she stared at the wound and her vision started to go black around the edges, until Jace turned her attention to something else.

There was a notable difference, for Clary, between seeing someone killed quickly, like Jace had been back in Idris by the Lake, but another to watch someone's life slowly slip away, as she was now.

The object Jace had turned her attention to was just lying on the boy's chest, covered in blood like everything else. Jace picked it up and unsheathed the weapon. It glowed slightly and was a bronze-ish color. "That's an interesting item to have," Jace murmured.

Magnus stared at it, interested, before returning his attention to the boy. "Give me that dagger for a sec." Jace complied and gave it to Magnus, who used it to start cutting through the guy's shirt. Magnus peeled the wet material back to reveal a well-muscled torso. He also appeared to be wearing a necklace of some kind.

Jace whistled through his teeth. "Not even five minutes, and you're already ripping the poor boy's shirt off. And he's unconscious, at that. I'm not sure you're the kind of guy I want dating my _parabatai._ "

Magnus just clenched his jaw and thankfully didn't retort. And Alec looked a little uneasy at that comment.

"That's it. Jace," Clary commanded. "Out!"

Jace put on an angelic expression until Clary smacked him and did her best to push him out of the kitchen. Alec just watched her with an amused expression.

"Can you save him?" Clary asked Magnus cautiously. Now that Perseus's wound wasn't covered up, Clary could see clearly where the blade had penetrated.

The warlock just snorted. "Of course I can." And with that, he set to work. "Being mildly interested, what happened to him? And why did you feel so inclined as to bring him here? Or are you just gonna bring every fatally wounded person to my doorstep?" He focused on the wound in front of him while Alec and Clary told him what happened.

"It was really weird," Alec concluded. "Oh, I almost forgot to mention. When I killed that one hellhound, it burst into golden dust. Does that mean anything to you?"

Clary thought she saw Magnus stiffen up for a second, before he calmly replied, "Nope."

Clary watched Magnus for a minute, until he announced, "Finished."

The knife wounds were closed up and the bruises had faded, but he was still covered in blood.

Jace walked gracefully back into the kitchen. "I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking and I just wanted to point this out to Magnus before we hit the hay." He walked to the boy and flipped up his forearm, revealing the tattoo. Jace carefully watched Magnus as Magnus studied the boy's tattoo. Magnus's face was blank, tinged with a little curiosity.

"Well?" Jace asked.

The flicker of curiosity in Magnus's face instantly turned into boredom. "What about it? The guy has a tattoo, good for him."

Magnus and Jace stared down each other, until Alec cleared his throat.

"So, where are we gonna put them? And Magnus, we were thinking of staying here tonight, in case they wake up. Not that we think you need protection," he added hastily at Magnus's raised eyebrow. "But... just in case."

"Alright. We'll put them in two of the guest rooms. If your friends are staying, they can fend for themselves."

Clary raised her hand. "One problem," and gestured to the bloody body.

"Oh, yeah. Guess I'd better deal with that." He waved his hand and the blood disappeared. "Now he's ready for bed. If you two would deal with that," He said, gesturing to Jace and Alec while walking to the living room. "I'll go heal the girl and then you can move her as well."

With that, he strode off to join Izzy and Simon in the next room. Clary stood by and watched as Jace and Alec went to move the boy to one of the extra rooms. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and phoned home. She ended up getting the answering machine and told her mom and Luke that she was staying over at Magnus's. She told them that the trip to the graveyard had went alright. That nothing happened. _What they don't know won't hurt them,_ she thought. That was her reasoning for lying.

"Clary," Jace said softly, now back in the kitchen. "Come on. Izzy and Simon can take the living room. We'll take the guest room. You look tired."  
Now that he said it, she realized that she was _very_ tired. It had been a long day. "Alright," she agreed and let Jace gently guide her to the last available room.

They laid there on the bed and Clary curled up against his chest. So much weird stuff had happened in the past half an hour, it seemed impossible how little time it had taken. As she was still contemplating everything that happened, she fell into a nice deep sleep. One that you never wanted to wake up from.

Until she was awoken by a shrill, blood-chilling scream.

 **Percy POV**

He was back in Tartarus. He could see the river of fire off to one side and could feel the poisonous air as he inhaled. His other side was pitch-black and he couldn't see into the darkness. It looked impenetrable and seemed to repel the light coming from the fiery river. His breathing came out loud and harsh. A voice rang out from the darkness.

"Percy!" The voice was filled with unspeakable pain. Percy spun to face the darkness.

"BOB!" He tried to shout out, but his voice wouldn't work, _couldn't_ work. Taking a few steps forward, he stopped suddenly when he felt the ground start shaking. _Thump, thump, thump_ was the steady rhythm as it got louder and closer. It came from within the fortress of pure darkness. He knew what was coming next. It happened many times during his night terrors. He managed to stumble back a few paces and then froze as the darkness started to thin out. He tried to turn away, to close his eyes, _anything_ ; but all he could do was stand and watch as the horror that had plagued his dreams for months on end, stepped forward, thank the gods, still silhouetted.

Then something happened that had never happened before.

Tartarus _spoke_ to him.

" _You escaped from me before, but I will get to you sometime."_ Tartarus hissed out.

The father of the giants took another step nearer, toeing the border where the darkened side and the lit side that Percy was standing on, met, revealing a clearer image of his enormous foot. Percy could feel sweat break out on his skin and he clenched his trembling hands and his jaw. He tried _so hard_ to close his eyes, but they were stuck open.

However, just before Tartarus's full horror was revealed completely, Percy was woken up with a jolt. He could feel the usual cold sweat on his skin and his throat burned from his labored breathing. After a moment the tension in his muscles was able to leave and he took a second to recover. At first he wasn't sure what had woken him up, but soon enough he recognised the screaming. He launched himself out of the bed and landed lightly in a crouch. The door opened easily as Percy swung it open and sprinted out into the unfamiliar hallway. It was easy to locate which direction the screaming was coming from. He burst into the room across the hall from where he was.

Annabeth laid there on the bed, the sheets tangled around her as she struggled. Seeing her like this broke Percy's heart because he couldn't do anything to stop the nightmares. They had tried lots of things in the past. Apollo had been able to heal the physical injuries, but he hadn't been able to do anything to help with their mental conditions.

Percy rushed to his prone girlfriend and pinned her thrashing arms to her sides. At his touch her eyes snapped open, blind to his familiar face. He heard rushing footsteps from down the hallway as he began gently, but firmly, speaking to Annabeth.

"Annabeth, you're safe. We're in New York, we are safe. He can't get to us, not here."

Oftentimes, he wasn't sure if he said those things for her benefit or his. He repeated those three sentences over and over again, like a mantra, while keeping eye-contact, or at least, as best eye-contact as he could make. With each repeat, Annabeth's attempts to free herself became less desperate until they stopped completely. Percy watched as the wild, feral look in her eyes subsided to reflect a broken, vulnerable girl that he knew all too well.

She went limp, then shot up and wrapped her arms around his neck with a half-hearted sob. It was only then that he realised that he was missing his shirt.

"It's alright," Percy murmured in her ear as he sat down on the bed with Annabeth. "It's gonna be alright." That false reassurance sounded so corny since they both knew that it _wasn't_ going be alright, but he said it nonetheless.

Percy buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. He could hear Annabeth draw in deep breaths, steadying herself, as she murmured to him, her breath hot on his ear.

"He spoke to me, Percy." She spoke so quietly that Percy barely heard it.

"The same thing happened to me," he said equally as quiet. He could feel her shiver against him.

Then she pulled back a little and Percy lifted his head from its resting spot. Next thing he knew, Annabeth's mouth was on his and her hands buried themselves in his hair. He pulled her closer with one of his arms while his other hand rested against the curve of her face, below her ear. The kisses that they shared were desperate but precise. His hand reached and tangled into her blond hair. Percy tightened his hold on Annabeth as one of her hands drifted down his bare back, feeling the muscle's underneath his skin. His hand found the bottom of her shirt and he hesitated at first before sliding it underneath.

"OH MY GOD! AGAIN!? WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?!"

Percy and Annabeth untangled themselves from each other in a flash, and spun to see who had said that.

A boy with black hair was standing with his back to them and his hands over his face. Percy noticed the two others as he heard Annabeth give a little gasp. First he saw the golden boy, with gold eyes. The memories leading up to his being unconscious came back to him and he tensed up as he stared into those eyes that boldly stared back at him. Thoughts circulated around his head about two years ago, the Second Titan War. About Kronos, Lord of Time. But then a flash of red caught his attention.

"Rachel!" Percy exclaimed, getting over his embarrassment quickly. "How did you get here? Where are we even?"

Annabeth looked at him and said, "Umm, Percy?"

For some reason Rachel looked a little confused and unsure. She also looked a little different.

Rachel spoke, sounding a little hesitant at first. "I don't think I know you. My name is Clary. Clary Fray."

Then Percy realized that the red headed girl was shorter than Rachel was. And her hair wasn't as the same shade of red.

"Oh, sorry," he began awkwardly. "You look so similar to a friend of mine," he tried to explain.

Then, two more people showed up soon. A girl with midnight black hair broke the silence first.

"He looks hotter awake, doesn't he Alec," She said as she nudged the black-haired boy.

The boy just sniffed. "No comment from me, Isabelle."

The girl, Isabelle, raised an eyebrow while the boy, Alec, glared at her.

"Looks like it's introduction time!" Blondie announced.

 **Magnus POV**

He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he gave an exhausted sigh. It had been a long day. He'd had two clients that day. One who wanted a minor demon risen and the other who wanted something or other. He couldn't remember, nor did he really care. Plus, it had just been one of those days, where it took everything you had to just get out of bed.

Magnus had been looking forwards to Alec coming over all day, but was then surprised when he brought back a blood-soaked teenage boy and an unconscious girl. What he had said to Jace earlier had been untrue. He wouldn't have let that boy bleed out, let him die. He wasn't heartless after all.

Although, he would not _really_ cared all that much if the mystery boy had just happened to spontaneously die. No, he'd seen so many mundanes die over his long life that they had just become nothing to shed a tear about. Unless they had actually meant anything to him. Yeah, that boy was just another ordinary mundane who would wither away and die eventually.

At least, that's what he had thought at first.

When Jace had pulled that dagger out of its sheath, it had aroused Magnus's suspicions. He'd only seen that kind of metal once before. It was called Celestial Bronze. Then the Herondale boy had shown him the SPQR tattoo. It was then that he pieced together the truth. A demigod. But... Magnus thought some more. SPQR was Roman. He hadn't been aware that there were Roman demigods. Just Greek. Though, considering the Greek Gods had been adopted by the Romans, it made sense Magnus decided.

By the looks of the tattoo, however, he was a son of Neptune. There had also been something else about the boy that had indicated his true nature. Magnus wasn't sure if the shadowhunters felt it or not, but the demigod seemed to just _radiate_ power. Probably because he himself was a magic-wielder was he able to feel the boy's aura. The girl, he didn't get that much of a reading, but there was definitely an air of something different with her.

Magnus had decided the moment his suspicions had been aroused that he wouldn't be saying anything about it to anyone. It wasn't his secret to spill, so he wouldn't say anything. Just as he hadn't said anything to the Clave all those years ago. If the Clave were to hear about something new like the Demigods, with all their power; who knew what they would do. Magnus couldn't risk anything happening to them because of him.

He leaned back in the chair placed in his office, thinking over the events. Alec had gone to their room to sleep, but Magnus was thinking too much to be able to sleep. Absent-mindedly, he left his spot to go to one of the book shelves in the corner of the room. The books were two rows thick for one shelf. Removing the first row of books, he quickly found what he had been looking for. He pulled out a leather-bound journal. He returned to his spot and flipped through the pages until he found the one he wanted. The demigods, like the Nephilim, hunted monstrosities. Alec's story of the hellhounds matched the description he'd once gotten. The journal was filled out with the stuff he'd learned about the demigods. The main Gods and Goddesses. Some known abilities that are possessed by varying children. And the monsters they hunted; what they looked like, how to kill them and what happened to such monsters when they died. He wondered once again what exactly those troublesome teenagers had interrupted. No doubt about it though, they'd saved that boy's life.

Even though he hadn't been there to witness the ritual, Magnus was sure that it was a Greek or Roman thing. Although, he didn't know what kind of rituals the half-bloods had. He didn't know all that much about demigods. His journal was only about a quarter filled out and there wasn't much on the demigods themselves. Magnus had recorded everything that he had been told by this one young man. Though that young man had seemed to leave out a lot about his people. Anyways, it hadn't been all that long since he had first found out about half-bloods and seen one. Magnus had found out that half-bloods were rare and even then, the demigod had told him that he'd been of an even rarer type. Magnus didn't doubt it for a second.

He glanced at the clock on his wall and sighed again. 1:37 it read. He'd been up for a while now. However, he probably would've stayed in his office even longer if he hadn't been brought to by a scream. One that spoke of true, pure terror. Magnus gave a jolt of surprise and it knocked the journal from his hands, onto the floor.

What the hell were those Shadowhunters doing!?

He heard rushing feet from outside his door. Apparently, their soundless runes had worn off. He supposed that he should get over to the spare room and should investigate the reason behind the screams, but for some reason, he felt in no rush. He didn't particularly want to face the demigods, knowing that if the Nephilim were to sniff out that they weren't entirely human, it wouldn't end well.

The screams ended as Magnus bent down to grab his journal. Then he heard Alec bellow, "OH MY GOD! AGAIN!? WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?!"

Magnus took it as his cue to go and greet the obviously awake half-bloods. After all, no one could have slept through such a shriek.

Magnus placed the book back in it's designated spot and left the room, shutting the door behind him. He didn't want that nosy Jace finding the journal. He found everyone gathered around one of the guest room doors.

"...And I am the incredibly hot one, Jace Herondale," said Jace. "Oh, and that there is Magnus Bane."

Apparently he'd just walked into an introduction. Magnus looked into the room to see the two mystery people awake. The boy just stared at Magnus, or most likely his shirt.

"What kind of a name is that?" The boy asked.

Magnus just raised an eyebrow and stared at the boy. The boy flushed, as if he hadn't meant to say it aloud. It took a moment of staring at Magnus's eyes for the boy to realise that something was off. Although, Magnus wasn't able to pinpoint the exact moment when his cat eyes were noticed. The boy did better at hiding his surprise than before, when he scoffed at Magnus's last name. That or he was just used to weird.

Then the girl spoke. "Hi," she began, her voice a bit raspy, Magnus noticed. "I'm Annabeth and this is Percy," Was it just him, or did she seem cautious when speaking, like she was going through each word as she spoke, as if to make sure she didn't say anything to give them away.

"Well, then." As soon as Magnus heard Jace's tone, he knew that nothing good was going to come of him speaking. "Now that we got names out of the way, _Roman_ , why don't we talk about what was going on in the cemetery... _Perseus_."

Magnus really wanted to strangle that boy some days.

 **Hope you guys enjoyed it. So they finally meet, 5 chapters in and all of them are conscious. YYYAAAAYYY!;) That meeting actually took longer than I expected.**

 **So, again, I'll try to write again sooner, but with school and everything, I think it would take away from my writing if I rushed it too much. If you see any mistakes anywhere, don't be afraid to point them out so I can fix them.**

 **-KillerWisdom Nightshade**

 **4,115** **words.**


	6. If You Aren't Human, Then What Are You?

**Sorry it took so long. I had a bad case writers block and couldn't get the creative juices flowing. Plus, my sister has been hogging the computer a lot for school work. I'll try to post the next chapter quicker, but i'm about to have my exams in a couple of weeks, so, yeah,**

 _ **Bold and Italics is Greek**_

 **Chapter 6**

 **Annabeth POV**

When Annabeth had woken up, after her moments of disorientation, she'd had lots of stuff to tell Seaweed Brain. She'd also wanted to get some questions answered, namely, why was he _shirtless?_ And as well, how could he have been so rash and sprinted forwards with no thoughts of a trap? She wanted to slap him. But after the time spent not knowing if she was going to see him again, she also wanted to kiss him. So they'd kissed. She'd slap him later.

Then they were interrupted by the people crowding around the doorway. She did a mental facepalm when Percy called the girl Rachel. Obviously, it wasn't her. Rachel was taller and her hair was more fiery red than this girls. Plus, there were no tell-tale sharpie drawings on her clothes or splashes of paint. And when the blond boy, Jace, called Percy a Roman, It took a lot of control to keep her face devoid of the surprise she was feeling. She peeked at Percy out of the corner of her eye to see Percy with a guarded expression on his face. Then she looked at Jace to notice him carefully gauging their reactions.

"You know," Jace started saying. "That's really odd. You have the SPQR tattoo, which stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus, and yet you have a Greek name." The others in the doorway glanced at him.

"First of all, it's _Percy._ Second of all, you mean this?" Percy gestured to his left arm. "I can tell you right now, it's an _awesome_ story. You see, me and some buddies of mine were in History class last period of the day, like, learning about the Romans and other crap. Then we went to this sweet party where we got really drunk and somehow ended up in a tattoo parlor." At that he flashed a cocky grin, "I don't know, for whatever reason the most boring class of the day just stuck with me." He paused for a second and added as an afterthought. "And how did you know my full name?" The confusion and caution in his expression and tone were completely earnest.

Annabeth saw what he was doing, playing it stupid. Though, she could see that Jace wasn't buying it. The others seemed to, thank the gods. Except the last guy to show up, Magnus. The whole time he'd just looked rather bored, but Annabeth knew that he was watching every movement that she and Percy made. Then she noticed... his eyes!

Who and what were these people?

"Wallet," Jace said simply as he caught Annabeth's eye and she could clearly see the annoyance in his. She resisted the urge to shudder at the sight of his golden irises. "What was going on in that cemetery, Mundies" he repeated.

When he didn't get an answer after ten seconds, he impatiently crossed his arms. As he moved his arms, the neckline of the weird shirt he was wearing shifted downwards and revealed a pitch-black marking on his skin. He also wore another one on the side of his arm now revealed to her. Annabeth couldn't stop herself from gasping and involuntarily grabbing Percy's forearm.

 _She woke up, her head was pounding and her neck was swollen. She could feel thick ropes binding her legs together and her hands were tied behind her back. Resisting the urge to groan, she took stock of her surroundings. It was dark and there was barely any light, only a small sliver coming from where she assumed the door was._

 _She pried at the thick rope with her fingertips, while thanking the gods that the man has decided to use thick rope instead of thinner. Thinner rope would have been harder to untie. The bonds slowly loosened as she tugged on them, causing her fingertips to start bleeding during the process as she pulled against the unyielding tightness. How long had it been since she'd been kidnapped?_

 _Having finally loosened the rope enough to wriggle her hands through, she sat up and began on her legs. It was slower going because of her already sore fingers, but she tried to ignore the stings of pain that shot up from them._

 _She stood up, now free from her bonds, and started looping the rope into neat circles before slipping them onto her shoulder. She didn't know where she was, so better safe than sorry. Who knew when some rope would come in handy._

 _She felt her way along the wall until she came upon a doorknob. She tried it and it was as she expected it to be; locked. She felt around it and found a keyhole. The lock must be on the other side then._

 _She looked around the tiny room again, squinting, but was unable to make anything out. Anyways, there was probably only dirt upon a rock floor._

 _She sighed. A personal inventory revealed nothing considering she'd been attacked as she was going to bed. She didn't even have a pair of shoes But, wait... her hand ran through her hair, hardly daring to breath. Yes! She withdrew from her hair a bobbypin._

 _After bending it from its original shape, she inserted it into the keyhole. She fiddled with it until she heard a_ click _and she silently slid the pin back out of the lock and into her shirt._

 _She cautiously knelt down and peeked out from under the door. Looking out from the crack, Annabeth could see that dawn was approaching. She couldn't see much and but definitely couldn't see anyone's feet or hear any voices. She gently pushed the door open about an inch and waited._

 _After about ten seconds of waiting, she nudged in some more and waited again. Since she couldn't hear anyone approaching, she opened it enough that she could slip out into the morning gray light. She shivered as a cold breeze caressed her bare arms. There wasn't much of anything except wilderness that looked like it stretched out for miles. There were no paths worn into the ground and nothing to indicate which direction to go in. Or stay away from._

 _Pulling the door open wide to let light illuminate the little building revealed nothing inside it. She shut the door and locked it once again. She noticed a weird burn on the door though, some sort of symbol. She would have to remember what it looked like then figure out what it meant later._

 _So she just picked a direction, west, and started jogging. The shadows around her were still long but they had started shrinking as the sun slowly started to rise. The plants here were of really beautiful vibrant colors, and the air seemed so much purer than anywhere she'd ever been. She jogged on trying to go as quietly as possible._

 _The back of her neck itched and she spun, her body naturally going into a fighting stance. She saw nothing but the endless sea of foliage and the small shack she'd come from. Turning around, she continued on in the direction she'd chosen, glancing backwards often. She dodged around a thick tree. All these trees were so big, they must've been really old._

 _That was the good thing about ADHD. If you needed to distract yourself from something, it was no problem._

 _All of a sudden, her body told her to duck. She barely had time to do it as a fist soared right were her head had been. She whipped around, fists up, knees bent. She saw the man but didn't have much time to register what he looked like before another fist went flying to her face._

 _She deflected the blow with her arm, and groaned. That was gonna leave a mark. She threw a punch of her own but the man caught her wrist and punched her in the stomach. He hit her so hard that she fell onto her back and the wind was knocked out from her. He was straddling her torso, pinning her hands against her sides when she caught her first real look at him._

 _He was powerfully built, with messy black hair, like he'd just been sleeping, dark eyes, pale skin and he wore black clothing. He looked familiar, but that wasn't what caught her attention. It was his tattoos. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt, but one of his sleeves was pushed up. One symbol was really intricate. There was another one and then a silvery scar, on his forearm... right were there should have been some scabs. Before she'd lost conscious, she'd raked her nails across his arm. At least she was sure that she had._

 _She tried to dislodge him but he was too strong. He gave her one irritated look before once again knocking her unconscious, again._

" _ **Percy..."**_ Annabeth whispered. _**"I don't know what's going on Seaweed Brain, but we need to leave."**_

"I'm sorry, but you're not going anywhere," Jace said coldly.

Simon glanced at him. "Really? You had to make it sound creepy?"

Jace gave Simon an annoyed look back. "Shut up, Lewis."

"What are you guys?"

Jace cocked his head at Annabeth's question. "What do you mean 'what are we'?"

"I mean," she said boldly, "your friend there with the weird eyes. And don't tell me it's a birth defect. What kind of a regular teenager can speak ancient Greek." She was kind of going on a limb with that one. But it was a calculated risk.

"Or how about our injuries? Care to explain about them?" Percy said. "Oh and, um, where's my shirt?"

"It was ruined, so we threw it out," Magnus informed him. "Okay, now that the shirt issue has been acknowledged, let's get some coffee-"

"Hold on," Percy interrupted. "I didn't see everything that was going on, but I did see how you guys fought off those monsters. You were all trained. And only a really skilled archer could have shot that dagger out of the way."

Alec looked almost embarrassed. "Oh, umm... thanks?"

"Yeah, we aren't normal, but neither are you. You do realise, that you guys have already messed up," Jace remarked slyly. "You aren't normal either, cause if you were, you would be freaking out, or you would have tons of questions. Also, right back at you Annabeth, what kind of regular person speaks Ancient Greek. Plus, we found this on you." Reaching underneath the back of his shirt, he withdrew Annabeth's dagger.

Annabeth frowned. How'd that get here?

Percy jumped up from the bed. "Listen, we don't have time for this. Me and Annabeth need to go. Now."

"Why?" Jace asked.

"Because I need to tell my friends something important."

"Are your friends like you?"

Percy frowned. "If I admit to being... different, will you do the same?"

"Sure," Jace agreed.

"Okay, then I _am_ different."

"Same here." Jace paused for a minute. "Now that we've cleared up that we're all... different, what are you?"

"'Kay, seriously, again? We don't have time for this, it takes too long to explain. This message could be important."

Jace's expression turned impassive. "And does this message have any relevance to what happened last night?"

Percy looked him in the eyes. "Yes."

Annabeth was so confused. What had happened while she was unconscious?

"Could I borrow a phone then, if you're gonna keep us as prisoners?"

Jace seemed to mull it over. He pulled his phone from his pocket, but made no move to hand it over. "What are you going to tell them?"

Percy turned to Annabeth and locked eyes with her. "That I think that Nico has a brother."


	7. Captive

Simon POV

"That I think Nico has a brother," Percy says softly.

Annabeth, went dead quiet as her eyebrows scrunched up. She seemed to be at a loss for words.

"But that's imposs..." She trailed off at that word. "You're sure?"

Percy nodded gravely as he took the phone from Jace's outstretched hand. "I'm positive."

She looked suddenly worried at those two words. She let out a breath and whispered something that sounded like, "da immortals" from what Simon could make out.

Her eyes narrowed with sudden dislike. "That would explain how he got into camp," she said just loud enough for the rest of them to hear.

Annabeth then glanced at the phone in Percy's hand. "Do you really think that's the best idea?"

"Nope, but it's the best thing to do right now."

Simon was confused, so he finally asked one of the questions that was nagging at him. "Who's Nico?"

Percy answered him as he punched in a number. "He's a friend, and that's all you need to know."

Jace tried again. "What are you two?"

"What are you?" Annabeth shot right back.

'Kay, seriously," Simon said. "How do you not know what we are? Everybody who's different knows who we are. So how come you don't?"

"By the order of the Clave", Jace raised his voice dramatically, "tell us what thou art, demon!"

"'Kay, everybody SHUT UP!" Percy yelled with the phone against his ear.

"Clave? Demon?" Simon heard Annabeth murmur, saw curiosity gentle her sharp eyes as the gears in her head started working.

"And for the love of gods, would you stop staring at me!" It was Percy speaking.

Simon followed his glare and found himself staring at Izzy. Her eyes were aflame with defiance. One eyebrow was cocked as she, with some amusement, replied, "Get a shirt, then."

He looked at Percy who was slim but corded with muscle. All of his abs were well-defined, as well as all his other muscles. A tan that suggested he spent a ton of time outdoors covered his body. Simon looked around him and noticed both Clary and Alec secretly sneaking looks at Percy. Magnus was outright staring. All of their expressions were appreciative until Clary caught Simon's eye and she suddenly turned sheepish.

Percy glanced at Magnus's current shirt and kindly rejected Izzy's offer.

Annabeth's eyes hardened so they resembled steel rather than a cloudy sky as she stalked to stand in front of Percy's naked torso, to block everyone's view.

Simon turned his attention back to Izzy before looking down at himself, scowling slightly at his body, annoyed that Percy was standing there. But then he felt a hand snake around his arm and fingers entwine themselves with his. He looked up to see Izzy giving him a rare, soft smile. He instantly felt better.

Finally, it seemed that the person on the other end of the phone picked up. "PIPER!" Percy exclaimed. "The one time you decide NOT to answer your phone right away. Jeez."

Simon couldn't hear exactly what was being said to Percy, but he got the general sense considering the girl was nearly yelling. Most likely how relieved she is, how worried she was.

"No, no, no. She's fine, we're both completely fine. Although I'll admit, it's good to hear your voice again. I was pretty sure that last night was gonna be the last night I heard it..." He cringed as Piper started shouting even louder at him. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys, but I had to sneak off... Yes, sorry ma'am." The girl apparently had calmed down enough to control her voice. Percy covered the phone speaker with one hand and looked at all of the shadowhunters. "Hey, someone wanna tell me where we are?" He asked casually.

Jace gave a small laugh. "Yeah, no." He smirked. "Nice try."

Percy shrugged. "Can't blame me for trying," and flashed Jace a grin.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Pipes, they aren't telling us where we are currently... The people who saved our lives but who are now holding us captive... They haven't made to hurt us yet, so... 'Kay, listen, LISTEN! This is important Piper! The guy who took Annabeth, I think he's a son of..." Percy stopped talking at once and glanced at the hunters. "our friend downstairs," he said quieter, more cautiously. "I think Nico has a brother, an older brother… you know… technically," he said quietly.

There appeared to be no reply from the other line because Percy started to impatiently tap his fingers against his leg. At least, Simon thought it was out of impatient-ness.

"Pipes, you still on…? I don't know, I'll ask," he pulled the phone away from his ear. "Hey, how long are you guys gonna hold us? 'Cause I gotta say, my mom's gonna get worried if my friends have to tell her that I was kidnapped." He paused. "Again," he added as an afterthought.

Again? Simon shifted a bit and looked at Jace. Taking them while both of them were unconscious and healing them while one was on the verge of death was one thing, but holding them like this, was another. It wasn't what he'd signed up for. Simon saw Clary also looking a little unsure also, but Jace and the others just stared on. Except Magnus, whose expression couldn't be discerned by Simon.

"What's the point of keeping them if they're not going to tell you anything?" Simon was surprised to hear that it was Magnus speaking. The look in Magnus's eyes now, was something that Simon could make out. It was that spaced out look that was associated with thinking about the past. He shook himself out of the reverie before continuing. "In all my years, I have met many stubborn people and I know the look of one. These two carry themselves in the same manner. Good luck with getting anything out of them, because I can almost guarantee you that they won't spill anything. These two look like people who shouldn't be messed with." Was it just Simon's imagination, or did that sound like a warning.

Jace appeared to have been thinking something along those lines, because he started scowling.

"Magnus," he purred, "Perhaps you'd like to go to the kitchen and get us some coffee?"

Everyone went quiet as Magnus's nostrils flared. "Do not just dismiss me, boy. You manage to irritate me more than anyone in your ancestry has ever managed to, I'll give you that Herondale, which is a huge accomplishment considering how annoying the men in your family have been, so I'll forgive your rudeness this time."

"Forgive my rudeness?" Jace mocked. "You know something about them, don't you? Whose side are you even on," he snarled.

A throbbing vein stood out on Magnus's neck as he took some deep breaths to calm himself. "I am on no one's side, as I usually am," he simply stated.

"You realize that we know you still do an illegal demon summoning occasionally, right Magnus," Jace grated. He tutted. "The Clave wouldn't too happy if they knew about that."

Alec's face flushed, and if it was even possible, the room seemed to get quieter still. The Shadowhunters were all focused on each other and Magnus. Tension filled the air and Simon could see sparks leaping from the two of them in their stare down. _Oh, wait, the sparks are just coming from Magnus,_ Simon thought.

Everyone looked pretty pissed except for himself and Jace. And everyone else just looked pissed at Jace. Meanwhile, Jace just looked coldly calculating.

"Really?" Magnus spoke quietly. "After everything that I've done to help you? I have never interfered more in the affairs of Shadowhunters than I have with you lot."

Alec took a step towards Jace. "What is up with you?" he angrily asked. It got really loud in the room as Clary and Izzy joined Alec and started to tell Jace off and stuff. Simon was just tired and didn't want to start anything with Jace right now.

But then he noticed a flash of bronze-ish light, but the other four Nephilim were too busy to notice. He saw Percy holding a bronze sword as he silently moved towards Simon's bickering friends, using their fighting as cover. _Where the hell did the sword come from_ , Simon thought, bewildered.

"Jace," he yelled in warning. He may not always get along with him or even like him, but they all had each others backs.

Jace spun around and, seeing the sword, reached for a seraph blade, but didn't name it.

"'Kay, listen up!" Percy yelled. "All me and my girlfriend want is to be let go. So we're going to be leaving now." With that, he took a couple of steps forward, but stopped when he saw that no one was going to move.

It was then that Simon realized that he had left his weapons in the living room. The other shadowhunters seemed to realize that they'd left there own weapons in the other rooms as well. Except Izzy, who always had her whip with her.

All Jace did was stand there and smirk, throwing the unnamed seraph blade back and forth between his hands.

Looking Jace in the eyes, Percy gave him a hard look that made Simon inwardly cringe and made him want steer clear and leave Percy alone. The others seemed to be thinking something along the same lines. Even Izzy looked a little unsure of Percy.

But Jace just continued staring back, though he did stop juggling his Seraph blade. Soon it seemed to turn in to a battle of dominance of who looked away first.

"Nakir!" Jace shouted suddenly and, still keeping eye contact, charged Percy down.


	8. May the Best Man Win

**Enjoy!**

 **Percy POV**

Percy did the first thing he could think of before he let his reflexes take over. He threw the phone back at it's owner as Jace flew at him.

Throwing the phone at Jace caught him off-guard for a split second, but it was all Percy needed to get an immediate advantage. He slashed at Jace but that was the only offensive blow he could manage before Jace took the advantage. Their blades were blurs as they exchanged blows. Percy would admit that Jace was definitely throwing him off. He was an excellent sword fighter and the fact that he was left-handed gave him a good advantage over Percy, accustomed to right-handed fighters. Percy was forced into defense.

As his body fell into an unseen rhythm, his mind switched into fighting mode, like a switch being flipped. _Hours a day spent training_ , his mind whispered to him. _Not fighting to kill, just contain._

Percy ducked as that weird lit-up blade whipped above his head.

 _Excellent control of his weapon._ Percy imagined that if he hadn't ducked that blade would have stopped just short of touching his skin.

Jace's footwork never faltered and he had great balance. However, the slashes of his blade were fast and rough.

 _He's fighting with annoyance._

Okay, he could probably use that against Jace somehow.

Percy noticed the others file out of the room, presumably running for their weapons, except the one in the glittery shirt and Isabelle, who looked to be hesitating, probably because the two of them were moving so fast and she could just as easily hurt Jace as Percy if she tried to help.

If the rest of them could fight like Jace, he and Annabeth wouldn't be able to take them.

He could hear Piper shouting on the other end. He could only imagine her anxiety. He was definitely gonna get chewed through when he got back to camp.

They continued with their fight, neither making a mistake when suddenly Jace stumbled over something. Having only a moment to realize it was a pillow, Percy feinted to the right and drove Riptide to the left. Jace jumped back quickly, but not fast enough. Just enough for Percy to see a small cut open up on Jace's arm. Jace fell back into a fighting stance, on the balls of his feet, knees bent, ready to defend himself from the next barrage of blows to come or to parry the next strike issued by Percy. But the attack never came.

Percy backed away from Jace to stand by Annabeth, who had sunk into a similar fighting stance, right by the head of the bed. Obviously, she'd thrown the pillow at Jace. Except her arm was now sticking straight out and she had a cord of metal wrapped around her wrist, which Percy traced back to Isabelle.

"If you don't release her," Percy warned as he placed his sword over top of the metal, "I'll break this."

"You could try, but you can't break this metal," Isabelle promised. "All you would do is probably hurt your girlfriend."

"Who are you, Jace Herondale," Annabeth demanded in a cold voice, staring at the small cut. "Who are you _really?_ "

All of them heard Magnus give a long sigh through his nose and stand up straight from where he'd been slouching on the wall before.

They heard the sound of running come from the hall.

"As amusing as that was," Magnus said with a grin in his voice, as he turned to look at Annabeth. "By the way, nice touch with the pillow. You people have always been pretty resourceful." Percy and Annabeth shared a quick look at that. "Now is not the time for fighting, so put your weapons away."

With the other teenagers now back, hanging in the doorway with an assortment of weapons drawn, Jace put his sword back on his weapon's belt, while Isabelle released her hold on Annabeth and started winding the metal cord around her wrist, turning it back into the bangle bracelets she'd been wearing before. Even the ones who just got back uncertainly either sheathed their blades or slung their bows over their backs. Percy just shifted his sword so it pointed to the ground. Magnus fixed him with a look but Percy just tightened his grip on his sword. Another sigh came from Magnus as he snapped his fingers and Percy saw blue sparks fly from them.

The handle of his sword immediately began to warm up, heating to an unbearable temperature at which Percy was forced to drop it. He had tried to hold on to it for as long as possible and as a result, his hand was bright red and had more than a couple blisters. Clenching his teeth, Percy moved it behind his back, not letting them see it wounded. He'd heal it at the first chance he got.

Magnus just stood there with an expression on his face that said 'you should have listened to me'. Looking him in the eyes, Percy realized something else about Magnus's eyes besides the obvious cat eye deformity-thing.

There was a look to them that Percy had seen many times before when looking into the eyes of a god or other immortal. There was a certain older-than–you-think look to them.

"I can only imagine what a day you've all been having," Magnus began. "But I can't help wondering along with Jace what happened last night. If you're worried for your safety, these guys can protect you from whoever attacked you, though with fighting skills like yours, I doubt that's the reason you won't tell us what's happening. Whatever it is, we can help if you tell us." Magnus both sounded and looked serene.

Percy snorted softly at Magnus's first statement. _No, you_ can't _imagine the type of day I've been having. This hasn't even been a normal_ _type of day by_ my _standards._

Percy bent down and gently touched his sword, but it seemed back to normal so he began to pick it up.

Jace was slouching easily against the wall, looking down at Percy. "I guess it wasn't your first time seeing a hellhound, was it?"

Percy froze halfway through standing, a barely perceptible reactionary freeze to his muscles.

"You do remember that, right? The dogs the size of a cab," Jace said. "Ringing any bells?"

"Well, you know," Percy replied breezily. "I was a little focused on the knife above me. Plus I was on my back." For some reason, he had a feeling that protecting their identities, their _parent's_ identities, was more important than usual.

"I'll tell you what I think was going on then." Jace straightened and looked Percy straight in the eyes. "We saw what was pinning you to the ground. You were threatened and forced there because he had your girlfriend, and you became part of a Necromancy ritual of some kind. If you come clean, the clave will not punish you for being a victim. We can help track this guy down and stop him before he can hurt anyone else."

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other for a second in slight confusion, then she in turn looked everyone else in the eyes for a second each before replying, "this is our problem. We'll take care of it."

Jace must have finally realized from the brusqueness of her voice that nothing more of the matter would be talked about. Percy saw it in his eyes as he accepted defeat. At least for the moment.

"Very well," Jace conceded. "I only have one last question."

With that, he left the room with a quick 'be right back'. Soon enough, he came back carrying a couple small bottles. Percy felt his eyes widen slightly as he recognized them. Jace also held the rest of the items Percy had brought with him. Annabeth's cap, her dagger, his wallet, amongst some other things.

Jace paused then shook the bottles in his left hand so all of them could hear the pills inside rattle. "What's with these?" He sounded genuinely curious.

When Percy spoke up, even to himself his voice sounded dry, slightly raspy. "Seriously? I'm unconscious from blood loss and you decide to frisk me?"

Jace tossed the bottles at Percy. "If you answer this last question, we'll let you go. I swear on the Angel."

Percy considered this suspiciously while Jace's friends all looked at him in surprise mingled with confusion.

"What do you think," Percy asked Annabeth.

"I don't see any harm in telling him." She replied cautiously, trying and failing to find evil intent behind that question.

Percy took a slow deep breath. "I'm not a druggie, if that's what you think," he started off slowly. "A while ago... something bad happened to us, we ended up in... a bad place. We managed to escape, but the things that had been done to us..." Percy trailed off, his thoughts being consumed with memories. "We were constantly terrified, fighting for our lives every day..." He wrestled himself out from the memories that threatened to consume him from the inside out. "When we finally escaped, our bodies were healed so not so much as a scar was left behind... but our minds were different stories. We were diagnosed with PTSD. The pills don't help much," he shrugged his shoulders. "But it's something."

Clary, Simon and Magnus looked at Percy with pity and sadness, while the other three looked lost.

"What's that?" Alec asked.

Clary answered. "It stands for post traumatic stress disorder. It's a mental condition that someone can get when they're in life and death situations or witnessed horrible things," she explained to her friends. "It affects people in different ways. Some people can be prone to bursts of violence, which would be triggered by something that relates to the experience." Everyone in the room gaped at her. Except for Simon.

"She did a project on it in grade eight," he explained.

"Well, since that's all cleared up." Jace clapped his hands together. "Magnus, you can make a portal for them now."

"Wait, just like that?" Percy was shocked. _He must be up to something,_ he thought.

Apparently Magnus was also having similar thoughts, but didn't ask.

"Is there anywhere specific you wish to go," Magnus inquired of the two of them.

"Empire State Building is fine," Annabeth answered after a small internal debate.

He nodded and snapped his fingers again. Percy wondered if it was necessary or for personal effect. Probably the latter. Then again, what did he know about it.

This time Percy paid a lot of attention to the blue sparks that came from his fingertips. It was quite interesting actually, to see them fly from those slender fingertips and watch as the disappeared as the sparks from a campfire did. He wondered if the sparks would burn him if he touched them. Next thing he knew the wall to his right was showing the Empire State Building, people milling around. It was almost like looking through a window.

"One problem, though," Annabeth said looking squarely at Percy's chest. "He still needs a shirt."

Magnus replied, "That's easy." And before Percy could open his mouth to kindly reject his offer of one of his sparkly shirts, Magnus's fingers snapped once more. Percy felt material settle onto his skin immediately, looked down and saw he was now wearing a lime green shirt.

The two of them moved to stand in front of the portal, but Percy stopped suddenly. "Hey, there's a price tag on this!"

"Come now," Magnus said. "The owners won't notice it's missing."

Before Percy could say an angry retort, Jace moved towards them.

"Time to go," he said cheerfully and pushed Annabeth through the portal.

Percy glared at Jace before turning around to join Annabeth on the other side of it. He looked back and the portal disappeared, along with the strange people who'd saved his life and tried to hold him captive. As he tried to hail a taxi, he couldn't help but think, _hopefully I never see them again._

 **Clary POV**

As the portal closed Clary slowly saw a small smile creep onto Jace's face.

Alec regarded Jace suspiciously as he leaned into Magnus. "Why'd you just do that? You normally don't give up until you get what you want."

Clary felt Jace's arm go around her waist as he pulled her closer to him so they were standing hip to hip, pressing together.

"We'll be able to find them if we want to continue this case," Jace said slyly. "Cause we may have burned Percy's shirt, but I still have his sweater. We can track him next time we want to have a little chat. Or if I want a fighting partner," he added as an afterthought.

 _ **No cliff-hanger this time, I bet you're all happy about that :)**_


	9. War Council

**Chapter 9**

 **Annabeth POV**

As the two of them sat in the backseat of the cab, the silence between them was very heavy. Neither of them spoke a word. Percy looked just tired and worn out, whereas Annabeth sat stewing in anger. Her irritation had started at the beginning of the cab ride and had only been building up since then.

The cab slowed down and stopped in front of the apartment building where Percy lived. They got out and trudged up to the doors. They'd decided to stay at his place and go back to camp later in the day. Percy's reasoning had been that he'd like Piper to kill him after he'd had a full night's sleep.

They started clambering up the stairs to the floor where his mother, Sally lived. Before they got to his floor, however, Annabeth stopped Percy.

"What the hell were you thinking!" she demanded in a furious whisper.

He looked at her sleepily. "Could you be a little more specific? In the graveyard or at that house?"

She looked back at him in exasperation. "The graveyard, obviously. You would have been killed." She sighed and rubbed her face. Percy was looking at her seriously. "What happened after I was knocked out?"

Percy was silent for a moment but then started telling her about what had happened. He described the hellhounds attacking and how the other teens had fought them off. He even told her about being stabbed, then losing consciousness. She was too relieved that he was okay to be pissed off at him. Well, almost.

After hearing about everything that happened, Annabeth felt a lot better. It had been her lack of information that had bothered her the most. Clear of her irritation, she started thinking through what Percy said.

Running a hand through her hair, she said, "So another child of Hades. I guess all of the Big Three broke their oath." Looking up at Percy she continued, "That would explain how he got past the camp's borders. And before when he had me, one minute there was nothing, the next he was right behind me, shadow traveling obviously." She had a sudden thought. "Are you sure we should crash at your mom's place? He could attack her and Paul next."

Percy looked slightly unsettled at that thought. "We were just portaled to the Empire State Building and got a taxi from there, I don't think he'll know where we are. Now come on, I don't know about you, but I'm tired. Not to mention, there's already a chance that he already knows where they are. If you think about it, they'd be slightly safer with us here."

He led her through his home, being quiet to keep from waking up Sally and Paul. Percy turned the tap in the kitchen on to a trickle and held his blistered hand underneath, letting the water work it's magic. It had always amazed her to see the water heal his wounds, to watch as he went from being bone-tired to ready to take on a 50 foot giant in no time. It was almost like a caffeine shot.

They went to his room and Percy seemed to be too tired to change his clothes as he just sprawled out, leaving enough room for her. She laid down next to him, inhaling his scent of sea salt. With the alarm clock glowing in the dark and everything just as it usually was, Annabeth could have imagined that nothing had happened those past couple of days.

She snuggled up closer to Percy but didn't close her eyes. She knew that sleep was a necessity, that the longest a person had stayed awake for was eleven days but had suffered from extreme hallucinations, but she couldn't bring herself to give into the sleepiness spreading around inside her.

The pattern of Percy's breathing told Annabeth that he was still awake. He was holding her and she knew that he would still be holding her when she finally succumbed to sleep and woke up in the morning.

And just as she anticipated she woke up early the next morning, being held in Percys arms. They slipped out of the apartment before Sally and Paul had gotten up and left for camp. They both felt exhausted, having slept fitfully, but thankfully without screaming themselves awake.

When they finally arrived near the entrance to camp, Percy paid the driver, who looked mildly surprised at them wanting to be dropped off at some strawberry field at seven o' clock in the morning, but kept his speculations to himself. The two of them trudged up the hill, Annabeth dreading the attention she was about to receive. 'Oh my gods are you alright?', 'how did he manage to take _you?!_ ', 'that must have been terrifying,'. It made her want to punch someone just thinking about it. Not to mention how embarrassed it made her feel, being overpowered and kidnapped like that.

She must have been catching some prophet from Rachel because when they crested the hill, they were immediately spotted and crowded, the demigods who didn't know her well saying just the things she'd thought up. The ones who knew her well didn't bother with those flowery remarks and instead would give a small hug maybe, say it was good to see her alive. Even those remarks made her stomach roll a bit.

She squeezed through the crowd until she came to a stop near Clarisse.

"Alert Chiron," she said. "I want to get the war council together. Now."

After everyone had been rounded up and gathered in the Big House, they got their meeting started.

All the cabin representatives were anxious, all wondering the same thing. Who took one of their best fighters without leaving any evidence, what was it and how did it cross the border? And if this was Annabeth's idea of a prank was asked by a few, namely the Stoll's who had been watching their backs since leaving a fake spider in the Athenian cabin a little while ago

Over the clamour and noise, Annabeth could barely hear Chiron, sitting in his wheelchair, calling for silence but everyone started to quiet down until only a quiet murmur here and there was heard. Piper and Jason had sidled closer to them, Nico was at the other end of the ping pong table, next to Will

"This war council will now begin," Chiron announced loudly, silencing the rest of the ongoing conversations, before turning to face Percy and me at the head of the table. "Tell us what's happened."

Annabeth rolled her shoulders back. She and Percy had talked about what they would and wouldn't tell the rest of the campers beforehand. The other teenagers they met weren't to be trusted but she didn't really think of them as a threat, right now. She took a breath and looked steadily around the table at all the face's surrounding the ping pong table, before locking her eyes on Nico. After a second, she broke eye contact and started to speak.

"Many of you may have speculations and thoughts about what has happened these last couple of nights." Annabeth paused. She knew that the other campers had to be made aware of this new demigod, but she was worried that this attack made by another child of Hades would cause some friction between some campers and Nico. But duty pushed her to continue. "It was a demigod who took me." There was no point trying to sugar-coat it. "We," she gestured between Percy and herself, "found out... are pretty sure... that he belongs to Hades."

There was a stunned silence, then an outburst of noise as everyone started talking at once.

"What did he want?"

"Is it safe for the younger ones to be here?"

"Should we start posting guards?"

Many other questions were issued, but Annabeth's attention was focused on Nico to bother to listen. He'd gone white, even paler than normal. Annabeth tried to figure out how he was feeling about this, but too many emotions were crossing his face too fast for her to discern all of them. She saw shock light up his face first and continued watching his face as his emotions turned darker into anger, fear, sadness, despair and worry, until he got hold of himself and put on a cold, hard mask.

Percy squeezed her hand and she noticed him also looking towards Nico, worry clouding his expression. Percy looked at her and said, "we'll talk to him after," just loud enough for her to hear. She was about to reply when Chiron suddenly had control of group again. Jason and Piper gave the two of them a concerned look as Annabeth continued the story.

"I was attacked and knocked out, then presumably shadow-traveled to some sort of shack where I woke up. I then tried to escape, but he caught up to me and... knocked me out for a second time. When I woke up again, I was manacled to a chair in the middle of a graveyard. Then Percy,-"

"Then I snuck up with her invisible cap," Percy interrupted, "and I freed Annabeth. Before I could get to the demigod however, he'd ran and we assume shadow-traveled out of the place. We don't think that he went for Annabeth just randomly, he took her to blackmail me 'cause when I got to the graveyard, it looked like the guy had been planning on using me as a sacrifice in some sort of ritual. He had this really fancy dagger and he was muttering this chant."

Chiron looked concerned at this, the lines in his face deep as he frowned. "He was chanting?"

Percy nodded, "Yeah. Of course, this was after he'd had some skeletons hold me to the ground. I managed to-"

Chiron looked sharply at him. "I thought you said that you'd snuck in and freed Annabeth."

Percy looked caught off guard. Then he realised that he'd tripped up in his story. He started to backtrack. "Well, I'd originally snuck in and was invisible, but he –Hades' kid- somehow knew where I was and had some skeletons hold me down. Then he started chanting and walking in a circle around me. He was about to kill me when I managed to break free from his skeleton minions and attack him, at which point he ran." Percy concluded.

Chiron didn't look quite convinced with his explanation but kept the meeting moving forwards nonetheless. "We're going to need to send patrols out every night then. Only the older and more experienced campers. I want the Athena cabin to draw up a watch schedule."

Annabeth nodded. "I'll have Malcolm make one up as soon as I see him."

Chiron sat forwards in his wheelchair and looked everyone in the eyes. His eyes lingered on Nico a split second longer than any other before he took a deep breath and spoke again. "Usually under the circumstances of finding another halfblood out there, especially of one with such a powerful god, we would dispatch a satyr immediately, but seeing as though he just attacked a camper, it would seem that he is hostile. He can enter the camp without permission, the boundary is powerless against him. We do not know if this new son of Hades is unfriendly to all or just Percy and Annabeth currently. For this reason we will have patrols set in groups and avoid sending the newer campers, or any campers, off anywhere alone." The campers grouped along the inside of the Big House were all nodding along to what Chiron said up until the next words came out of his mouth. "Our war games will hereby be postponed until further notice." Everyone just stared at him as if he had just announced to them that he was going to be a back up dancer for Beyonce. All except Nico, who just continued to stare stonily ahead. Clarisse was the first to voice her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I thought you said 'cancel our war games'?"

"You all heard me right." Before the too many voices could make themselves heard, Chiron raised a hand and the camper's protests died in their throats.  
"Know that I hate to do this, campers," he began. "I personally find them to be so enjoyable, but I say this for the safety of many. During capture the flag, every halfblood is running about the forest with a weapon. The forest would make for an ideal place for an ambush. Plus having all the campers running about with weapons may provoke this powerful, hostile demigod if he were to show up. This is my final word. This council is now dismissed. We will meet again when Athena's cabin has made a patrol schedule. I will ask you all to look out for the newer halfbloods and make sure they understand the gravity of this situation."

Reluctantly, all the cabin counselors left one by one. Nico was the first one to leave, heading toward the nearest shadowy corner and disappearing. Will looked toward the corner Nico just vanished from with a concerned frown on his face, before heading out the door presumably to look for him. A few people remained behind, namely Piper and Jason. Annabeth had noticed that Jason was closer with Percy since Leo had died all those months ago.

Rachel appeared in the doorway of the big house waiting for the others to leave so she could slip in. She looked flustered and a little breathless.

"Sorry," she panted. "Someone _just_ came and told me that they were back and that you'd called a meeting."

By the looks of it, whoever had gone and told Rachel about the meeting had interrupted her while she was painting, if her hands any indication. Annabeth's thoughts drifted to Clary as she thought of the resemblance between her and Rachel. They certainly did look similar with a few minor differences. Rachel walked over and gave her a hug before doing the same with Percy.

"Oh my gods it's so good to see you guys again, alive. I was worried that Chiron would tell us to start making shrouds. Obviously I missed your explanation, so would you mind filling me in on what happened?"

So Percy gave her a rundown of what they told the others. She listened patiently and at the end of his tale she let out a soft whistle.

"Sacrifice, huh? That's a new one. Usually things want to kill you for revenge, they're hungry or just for the glory of being the one who killed the mighty Percy Jackson. But a sacrifice is new. No wait, hold up. Never mind, the Giants, the blood of Olympus. Forgot about that for a second.

"I guess there isn't any chance you have any idea where you were," Jason asked. Annabeth just shook her head and frowned slightly. "I was in the middle of nowhere, some kind of forest. It was really quite beautiful, full of vibrant colors, I've never seen anything like it. And there were no discernable paths leading in any direction. I thought it a little odd before, but now it just makes sense. He would have no need for paths and could have just shadow-traveled me there."

Rachel and the others still in the room gazed at her.

"So it was just a random, locked up shack in the middle of nowhere that he could lock anyone up in if he wanted," Piper summed up.

"Basic…" Annabeth trailed off. Something Piper had said had reminded her of something. "On the door of the shed, there was this weird mark burned into the wood, I remember it and can draw it out if I had a piece of paper."

Now all the heads turned to Rachel.

"Yeah, I should have something." Her hand burrowed its way into her jeans and pulled out a wad of paper and a green sharpie. She placed the two items on the table in front of Annabeth and watched as Annabeth began to draw. When she was done, she held it up for the others to see.

"I have no idea what it means though,"she said in explanation. "Does this mean anything to you Chiron?"

The activities director leaned forwards in his wheelchair. "I must confess, I don't recall having ever seen this mark before. I'm not even sure if it's Greek at all. Do you recognize it Jason?"

But Jason looked just as confused as everyone else. "I don't know it from any Roman myths. Sorry."

"No problem, Jason." Percy patted him on the back. "Hey." Percy's face brightened up. "What if it doesn't mean anything and it's like some sigil!"

The others stared at him.

"What?"

"Percy," Annabeth started, "do you even know what a sigil _is_?"

Percy shifted uncomfortably. "Um… yes. No. Slightly? It sounded like a cool word," he tried to explain.

Annabeth fought off a smile and explained it. "Percy, a sigil is a symbol imprinted on something and considered to have magical power. In which case, the symbol _would_ mean something. And anyways, we have something more important to do than figure out what this means."

Her friends all exchanged looks, except Chiron, who simply nodded, most likely because he had the same thought that Annabeth had. Finally Percy sighed. "Fine, I'll bite. You got that look on your face, again. The 'I'm-so-smart-I-know-something-you-guys-haven't-thought-of-yet look'. So, what do we have to do?"

Annabeth could feel the smug look on her face. "We need to talk to Hades."

"Oh, _goody_ ," Percy said sarcastically. "You know, the last time I was in the Underworld, he locked me in a doorless dungeon cell thing and was going to leave me there until I was an old man."

"Get over it Percy," Annabeth told him. "This is more important than past grudges."

"When did that happen?" Jason asked.

"Just before I was going to hop into the River Styx to get my Achilles Heel."

"Oh, that sucks," Jason sympathized.

Piper slapped her forehead suddenly, her eyes wide. "Oh my gods, Percy. I nearly forgot!"

Percy immediately looked worried. He took a step towards her in alarm. "What is it," he asked urgently.

There was a crack as Piper slapped him across the face. "That's for running off," she calmly told him.

He held his face with a hand and groaned. Jason edged away from Piper, but smiled when she glanced at him then letting the smile slide from his face to be replaced with a wary expression when she looked away.

Annabeth and Piper shared a grin until Percy removed his hand and Annabeth saw a bright red hand mark on his cheek. She felt laughter bubble up in her chest and escape her mouth before she could restrain herself.

It was good to be back at camp.


	10. Arguments

**Disclaimer: I do not- You know what, screw disclaimers. I'm neither authors Clare or Riordan I don't think it needs mentioning.**

 **Chapter 10**

 **Nico POV**

From behind the pile of rocks in the forest, inappropriately deemed the Fist of Zeus, shadows rippled and distorted, settling only after Nico came running out. He stopped running and stood there in a patch of sunlight, letting the warmth soak into his bones, breathing heavy. Another child.

Standing there in the light he could feel the time passing, maybe ten minutes as his thoughts swirled around inside his head, each begging to get his full attention. He knew that some his thoughts were completely irrational, but he couldn't avoid them. _Am I such a disappointing son that father would try to have another._ He knew that that one made no sense. If what Percy and Annabeth had said was accurate, then the new son of Hades, Nico's physically older brother, would be in fact an adult. The other boy would've had to have been conceived sometime when he and Bianca had been living in the Lotus Hotel. His father hadn't known him then and probably hadn't dreamed that he would be disappointing.

While Nico wasn't quite sure why the discovery of another child bothered him so much, he was quite sure, however, that he wanted some questions answered. Knowing that his father had been the only god of the Big Three to have not broken the oath regarding halfblood children had filled Nico with an odd sense of pride of his father. But now, finding out that Hades actually had broken the oath, it was kind of numbing. Nico had found an aspect off his father that had made him happy to be his son. The self-righteous Zues and his brother Poseidon had both broken an oath at least once, while Nico's father had not. His father had been the only one to keep his word. It was as simple as that. But now, he was the oathbreaker that everyone, though it was never said in front of Nico, believed.

His thoughts drifted to the newly discovered half-blood himself. Annabeth and Percy had been attacked, and although Nico didn't show it much, he thought of them as his friends, plus they had saved his life more times than he'd like to admit. He didn't have that many friends, even now that he was living at camp, and it was because of how very small the list of people he cared about was, that he wouldn't let his friends be hurt or killed by anyone, no matter what ties they had to him.

Newly determined by this fact, he turned to go back, and froze. Someone was there in the woods with him.

"So, we finally meet... Little brother."

He stood before Nico, leaning against the boulders of Zeus's fist. His skin was naturally pale like Nico's, with the same near-black hair and eyes that came from their shared father. But that's where the similarities seemed to end. He towered over Nico and made Nico look like he was made from toothpicks, and his facial expression looked to be drawn in a semi-permanent sneer. He looked down his nose to Nico and his eyes held both malice and a certain arrogance to them.

"Who are you?" Nico asked.

"I have a feeling that you know _exactly_ who I am."

Nico considered this for a second. "What's your name, then?"

The older demigod just laughed. A low throaty chuckle. "You know as well as I do that names hold power. For now, how 'bout you call me big brother."

Nico just ground his teeth together, not trusting himself to answer with anything even remotely nice.

The young man raised an eyebrow. "Nothing to say? That's a pity."

He was _really_ starting to get on Nico's nerves. "I will not or _ever_ , call you that. Is there anything else I can call you."

The other boy thought about it for a second. "Just call me Dolos."

"Alright… Dolos. Why did you attack Percy and Annabeth?" Nico shifted so his hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

Dolos straightened up and dismissed Nico's question with a wave of his hand. "I'm hurt, little brother. You didn't even tell me your name. But don't worry Nico, I already know it."

Gritting his teeth, Nico fought down a rise of annoyance. He needed to find out as much about… Dolos, as possible. "How long have you been stalking me?"

Dolos cocked his head. "What makes you think I've been stalking you?" he seemed genuinely curious. "And it was nothing personal."

Nico gave an exasperated sigh. "How is stalking me _not personal_." He emphasised the last two words. But Dolos just rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't talking about the stalking, _jeez_. I was talking about the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena. That wasn't personal. I needed someone with powerful blood and he seems to be the strongest of all of you down here at this pathetic camp. The girl, _his_ girl," Dolos corrected himself, "was just an incentive to behave." The look of contempt on his face deepened as he said that last bit. "Anyways, I didn't come here to discuss them. I came here to offer you something."

"And that would be…"

"A partnership. A family member who will actually care about you," Dolos said simply. "I've been visiting this camp for a while now. Snooped here and there. Listened to people's conversations." He paused for a bit. "I'm sorry about your sister. It's quite unfair that she had to die so young, leaving an eleven year old brother behind." He fixed his black eyes on Nico and once again he felt a rush of anger, along with that shard of grief that came whenever Bianca was mentioned. He tried to keep his face as blank as possible and his voice steady before he said anything.

His voice trembling very slightly, Nico asked, "What do you want? Why are you here now?"

Dolos once again rolled his eyes and looked condescendingly down at Nico. "I've already told you what I want. I want you to help me. I want to give you the chance to team up with me. To change the world for the better. I know that your sister chose rebirth and that there's no way now to get her back or see her again, but if you team up with me, I'll make sure that no one else you love will ever die again."

Nico's heart thumped painfully in his chest as he took this all in. "What are you talking about? Change the world! What are you planning to do?"

Dolos just stared him straight in the eyes. "I'm planning on overthrowing some deities."

 **Jace** **POV**

"Come on, Magnus! It's just a shirt," Jace was saying as the coffee was being made. He sighed. "Don't' make me be annoying, cause you know I can do that."

"That is the truest thing you've said all morning," Magnus grumbled over the coffee machine. He stared at it longingly. "Gah, this is taking too long. Remind me why I didn't just magic some coffee up."

"Because stealing is bad, Magnus," Clary weighed in.

"It's only..." He does a quick head count. "six coffees. I don't think anyone's going to notice, not to mention trace it back to here." He rubbed his temples. "after last night's fiasco, I just want a cup of hot coffee. Is that really too much to ask."

"Apparently," Isabelle muttered at the same time that Jace said, "about last night."

Magnus sighed. "Let it go, Jace, let it go."

But Jace kept on persisting, like a dog with a bone. "Come on, I swear I won't actually go to them, I'd just like to know where they are. Why won't you just give me the shirt?"

After Percy and Annabeth had left via a portal, Magnus had magicked the shirt away to a safe with layers of charms and spells preventing Jace from using a unlock rune.

"I'm not giving you the shirt," Magnus answered. "Because some things are best left unknown."

"Why are you siding with them," Jace asked, genuinely curious. "Do you know something about them?"

"I know enough about them to understand that their lives probably aren't that easy to begin with, but then going ahead and throwing shadowhunters in the mix would probably be a short recipe for hell."  
Jace spoke slowly, measuring each word before speaking it. "So, what you're saying, is that you know a bit about them."

Magnus seemed to hesitate. "Yes, a bit," he answered truthfully.

"Are they mundanes?" Jace asked.

The look on Magnus's face said that he didn't want to answer the question but nonetheless, he turned to Alec. "I promised that I wouldn't lie to you and I don't want to be keeping anything away from you. But I'll tell you a bit of what I know, only if you all promise not to tell the clave, however. I don't want to be held liable for starting a war."  
"Starting a war," Isabelle murmured, her brow creased. Everyone in the room made eye contact with each other. Alec was the first to do it. "I swear on the Angel." The others followed suite except for Jace. "What do you mean start a war? If there's going to be a war it's our duty to inform the clave of any dangers present, so we can be prepared."  
Magnus just stared at him before slowly shaking his head. "This is exactly why I don't want to and haven't said anything to the clave about this. You Nephilim always go straight to violence and war instead of peaceful negotiations."

Jace propped his elbow on the counter and raised a finger. "Okay, one, we don't always go to war and violence. The Accords and our newfound alliances are proof of that-"

"After hundreds of years of prejudice, violence and abuse towards downworlders, newfound is the right word," Magnus interrupted. He waved his hand. "Carry on."

"And two, what the hell," Jace conceded. "I swear by the Angel."

The others just stared at him. "What was that about?" Isabelle asked.

Jace elegantly shrugged his shoulders. ""Curiosity's getting the better of me," he said simply.

Magnus rolled his eyes. "This would have gone along easier if you had just said that in the first place." He paused. "To answer your question, no they aren't mundanes, at least not fully. They're half. Half mundane, half something else."

"Half what," Simon asked.

Magnus pondered on that for a bit before saying, "No, I'm not going to tell you that. Sorry."

"Really, Magnus," Simon said. "You're just going to leave us hanging like that? This is suspense, you know, like when your watching a show and the characters get so close to a secret then the directors are all like 'nope, we're going to end this episode now and have them reveal the secret next episode', meanwhile we're all dying inside-" He stops his little rant when he sees all the raised eyebrows in the room.

"He's got a point," Clary said, standing up for her _parabatai_ _._ "You just said that you would tell us about them."

"I said that I would tell you a bit of what I know," Magnus corrected her. "I plan on telling you what you need to know. Because as far as I know, they know as much about you as you know of them."

Jace pondered that. "How do you know of them?"

"And are they dangerous?" Clary put in. "Do you see them as a threat?"

"Not really." Magnus said slowly. "I mean, yes, they can definitely be quite dangerous, as you saw with the boy here earlier. Quite a good swordsman to be able to keep up with you, Jace. They have been known to be good at fighting. And as I said before, no, I don't really think that they would be a threat to shadowhunters or mundanes. Actually, they might be like you guys, in the sense that they protect the mundanes as well."

"How do you know of them," Jace repeated.

Magnus once again looked reluctant to answer. "Because I helped one of them before. And in doing so, I discovered a whole other world revolving right here in New York."

Silence fell across the room . "I take it we aren't going to get an answer if we ask what this whole other world is, right?" Isabelle asked with an eye roll.

Magnus nodded firmly.

"Do you know where they are by any chance, like do they have a secret hideout or meeting place like the Institute." It was Simon who spoke up this time.

"I'm not sure about that. Sorry." Though his face was quite unapologetic.

"Alright." Jace crossed his arms. "Why can they fight so good? What was with the swordplay?"

"Well, they get so good because I'd imagine they train," Magnus said dryly. "But from what I heard, they have their own demons to contend with. Listen, before you ask more, that's the end of my knowledge about them. I don't think I can tell you anymore about them."

"Except for what you're deliberately holding back," Jace put in.

"Yes," Magnus said simply.

Jace got a look on his face. "When was the last time you saw one of them?"

Magnus looked slightly confused but answered anyways. "Over fifteen years ago. Why?"

"So fifteen years ago, you didn't think they were a threat. What do you think now, fifteen years later? Could they have become a threat in the last fifteen _years_."

"No." Though he didn't sound one hundred percent sure.

"Let us check on them, make sure that they aren't a threat now." At Magnus's accusatory look, Jace added, "I swear by the Angel that I won' t do anything or tell anyone else if they don't appear to be threats. I'll even drop it. Just let us use the shirt to track him. You can come with us and make sure I keep my promise."

Magnus looked Jace hard in the eye. Jace stared back. "Fine." He snapped his fingers, blue sparks flying. The cut up and bloodstained orange shirt appeared in his hand. He passed Jace the shirt, which Jace turned over in his hands.

"Perfect," he said.

 **Nico POV**

He couldn't help it. After all of Nico's anger had finally calmed down, his... brother dropped that bomb and he just couldn't hold it in. He was shaking and had to use one of his hands to cover his mouth, to keep himself from laughing out loud.

Dolos stared at him as if he'd just lost his mind, with an increasingly menacing expression, cocking his head. Nico sobered up quickly at his glare. "So, you're serious?" He asked and then quickly went on, not waiting for an answer. "You realise that there have been plenty of people who were determined to do just that, and failed. _Kronos,_ the king of the _Titans_ , failed. As well as Gaia, who is essentially the _earth._ How do _you_ expect to defeat the _Olympians_?"

Dolos took another step forward, incredibly graceful for a guy of his size, and just looked at Nico as if disappointed. "I'm not going to tell you any of my plans, until I can know for sure you are on my side. And before you think to deceive me, what I need from you is your word on the River Styx."

By now, Nico realised how bad this situation was. He was all alone against a guy who was much better trained than him, who could probably kill him with his bare hands. And something told him that their shared blood wouldn't keep Dolos from killing Nico. Nico saw he had a big choice to make, but it was the easiest choice of his life. The only problem was getting to the others and back here in time.

Trying to appear normal, Nico strode forward a few steps closer to Dolos, who stood a little off to the side of the shadow of Zeus's fist. Nico's heart thumped painfully, he imagined he was within range of attack from Dolos. Try as he might to stay calm and appear neutral on the outside, he couldn't help his hand from straying to the hilt of his sword.

Seeing the movement, Dolos must have been expecting this because he lunged forward without warning right for Nico. Nico threw himself in the dirt and grass to avoid being grabbed and scrambled towards the shadow. He felt his skin cool as his hand entered the shadow's grasp and immediately thought of the Big House. He felt himself melt into the shadow, his heart going wild. He stood up, though he had entered what he called a Shadow-path. He closed his eyes hard and didn't open them until he felt himself materialize but when he did he realised that he had just materialized right back into the shadow he had departed from, facing the fiend he had just tried to run away from.

Dolos just stood there, grinning. "How cowardly, running away from an opponent. I'd so hoped that you would have agreed to my deal. But I've got to admit, what comes next is going to be so much more fun."

With that said, he unsheathed a broadsword from behind his back. The metal wasn't celestial bronze, if anything it could have been an ordinary metal. Dolos would understand that demigods could be hurt by mortal weapons.

Nico's brain was working double-time now but the only coherent thought that reached through to his body was to unsheathe his own sword. He was still standing in the pool of the shadow but he had come out of. He desperately thought of the Big House, but he felt something… different. With the big house in mind, he tried to open the path but the shadow wouldn't… budge. By then he was starting to panic as Dolos kept coming, advancing slowly as if savoring the moment. There was something predatory about his strides that chilled Nico and when Dolos smiled it made the hair on the back of his neck raise.

"Having trouble?" Dolos asked. He smiled wickedly. "You're stuck. I've been honing my skills to control the shadows ever since I was a kid. You're not going anywhere, at least, using the shadows." He stopped his casual advance. He was now close enough that Nico could make out smooth, silvery scars on his bare arms. Dolos, waving his arm, grinned down at Nico and said, "It would be more fun if you ran."

Knowing there was nothing else to do, Nico turned and sprinted off into the trees. A minute later he half turned his head to see Dolos rapidly catching up to him.


	11. Searching

**Chapter 11**

 **Jace**

Clenching the shirt in his hand he drew the tracking rune on his upturned fist. The pleasant burn of the stele making its mark on his skin was always soothing to Jace. A few seconds later the rune was finished and he closed his eyes. Images flickered across the inside of his eyelids. When he had seen all that he needed to he opened his eyes. Pocketing his stele and motioning to the others he suggested to them, "Let's head back to the Institute first before checking up on the half-mundies."

Magnus scowled briefly. "So you can grab some weapons?"

"Nope. Already have from last night. So we can get a change of clothes," Jace replied dryly. "It's not like we _all_ have a stash of clothes at your place," he said staring pointedly at Alec's different attire. "You'll be coming with us anyways to make sure we behave."

"Whatever," Magnus grumbled. "Let's just go already. The faster we check on them the faster we can put this behind us and forget all about it. Hopefully," he added to himself as

Jace smiled at Simon from across the counter. "When we get back to the Institute I can give you the instructions while you drive."

"We have had this same conversation time and time again," Simon started. "Let me make this clear and to the point. Get yourself a drivers licence. It'll make both our lives easier!"

Jace just fixed him with a look. "Would it though?"

"I swear, if you ask me for a ride one more time I will stand behind you at the dmv with a sword to your back."

"I'm a shadowhunter, I don't do mundie driving," Jace said off-handedly.

"I'm also a shadowhunter and a shadowhunter with a licence, at that."

"Well, I'm a natural born shadowhunter."

Silence.

"Clary got her licence," Simon pointed out, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Jace looked at him. "You know what?"

A beep interrupted them as coffee started trickling into a mug. "Finally," Magnus crowed, cupping his mug in his hands. "Now I'll be able to tolerate you a bit more, Jace!"

"Take a right! Take a right!"

"You said left! You said turn left, now you wanna go right," Simon shouted, sheepishly waving at the driver on his side through the car window after having hastily swerving into the right turning lane. "You said left and you know it!"

"I did not, I said right." Jace lounged in the front passenger seat with his feet propped up on the dashboard, the seat pushed back.

Isabelle kicked at the back of Jace's seat. "Would you move up, I can barely move my legs."

"That would appear to be a good thing if you're going to be kicking my seat." Jace then reclined the ratty car seat back, until he was just about at a 180 degree angle trapping her legs. He winked up at her and smirked. In a flash she had him by the throat with her arm, her biceps flexing.

"I will give you one chance, Jace," Isabelle warned him. "Or I will kick your ass here and now." The pair of shoes on the dashboard disappeared and the seat was hastily pulled up and forward. Isabelle sighed in relief while Jace mournfully rubbed his throat.

"Nice choker hold, Isabelle." Clary grinned.

"Ganged up on by the women of my life, what has the world come to?" Jace said, sullen as Isabelle grinned back.

"Yeah, well, you turned Mother against you all on your own," Alec dryly spoke up from the back of the borrowed van, sitting with Magnus. "Didn't she want you to go on patrol back at the institute, you know, stuff about the werewolves and making sure they played nice with some warlocks over some land dispute or something. What did you tell her to get out of that?"

"That I had a previous engagement that could not be changed, I will spare you the details." Simon's phone started ringing just then. "And then I told her to give the job to Simon."

Simon glared at Jace for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the traffic. "What are the chances that's not Maryse now? Jace, I need you to answer the phone."

"I'm not answering it. I'm not supposed to be with you right now! Answer it yourself."

"I take back what I said earlier. Do not get a licence, Jace, you're a car accident waiting to happen."

"I am not!" He raised his chin and held his head high.

"Five traffic lights ago you told to me drive _through_ the red light because you were convinced that it was taking longer than normal. There were pedestrians and other cars in front of us."

"Why didn't I just take the motorcycle?" Jace grumbled.

"Because it's broad daylight," Alec answered while rolling his eyes.

"Ladies, ladies, you're all pretty. Now could someone do something about the phone!" Clary was practically crouching in her seat to make herself noticed. To answer her plea, there was a _snap,_ a shower of blue sparks and the phone abruptly stopped dead, mid-ring. All was then silent in the car. Jace turned to get Simon's attention and mouthed, _she called me pretty._

"You're welcome," Magnus intoned.

"Dude, you didn't do anything permanent to my phone, did you? Not to be ungrateful or anything," he hastily added when a pair of narrowed cats eyes met his in the mirror.

"Be nice," Alec murmured to the warlock and put a hand on Magnus's knee. "Everything will be over once this little trip is done."

Magnus snorted. "Somehow, I really doubt that statement."

Alec and Magnus continued murmuring back and forth to each other for several minutes, continually leaning closer to each other, until they were interrupted by Jace wolf-whistling and telling them to get a room. Magnus replied with a sentence that made Clary blush and Isabelle chuckle darkly. Simon caught Magnus's eye. "That was… creative."

"When you've lived as long as me, you tend to pick up some rather colourful language along the way. Even Tessa. She won't admit it but when she gets mad enough, you'd be amazed at what comes out of her mouth." He laughed softly and a look of gentle amusement fell across his face. "I think I still remember some actually. Want to hear them?" So Magnus got into a story about the time that he had been seeking out the existence of the Lochness monster. It had been a dreary day sometime in the twentieth century, that had just been spent on the borders of a lake while it rained as Tessa watched her friend work some magic, to either prove or disprove whether the sea creature was real or not. Tessa had not had the best day and when they went to the inn they were staying at, which was more like a tavern than anything, one fellow was getting pretty handsy with Tess. She talked him off, told him his attentions were not wanted and when he tried one more time after that, she let loose. By the time she was done, the man and half the room were quiet and their faces blanched. Some of the waitresses that weren't completely shocked out of their wits applauded while the men gaped. Magnus even included a bit of what Tessa had told the man off with.

Magnus sighed happily. "Never in my whole life have I been prouder of her! I even remember some of what she said." And with that he started speaking sentences not-to-be-repeated. A couple of times someone questioned a word said, Magnus would just shrug and say, "it was vulgar at that time period."

Finally, they reached a road, empty, save them.

"Wow, busy," Isabelle muttered.

"We'll look around," Alec said. "Though it looks like there's nothing here. Jace, are we close yet?"

"We're definitely getting close," he answered. "We're looking for strawberry fields. I'll tell you when to pull over."

They drove on for a little while longer before Jace called for Simon to stop and pullover. "This is it." Everyone piled out at a curt nod from him and the doors squeaked and slammed as it was vacated and left empty.

"Let's rune up. Magnus, if you could glamour yourself, though I'm not entirely sure if glamour works a hundred percent on them. That night when we happened across Percy, we ducked down into an alley as he passed. He saw us from the corner of his eye, I'm positive, if only for split-second. But when he actually looked, he couldn't make it past the glamour. "

"Yeah, it was weird," Simon jumped in. "He, like, became all tense when he passed us, started walking all slow, and then just turned suddenly, looking confused when there was nothing there. I still can't get used to it when people look right through me," he added.

Ignoring that last part, Alec grimly strung his bow. "Battle instincts," he said. "You could see he was getting ready to fight. If you noticed also, he wasn't surprised when he caught that glimpse of us. Magnus, you say he's part mundane, part something else. Jace's point exactly. Percy caught a glimpse but he couldn't peel away the full glamour. Downworlders can see through glamour and even create their own sometimes. So why couldn't he?" He slung the bow over one shoulder and his chest.

"Alec, could you mark me, glamour," Jace asked as Clary and Simon traded runes and Isabelle finished her own.

She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Deep question, big brother, dear, but let's skip the chit-chat and get looking. Lead the way Jace."

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

Runes finished, the group climbed up a hill, most of them fingering their weapons. When they crested the hill a view opened up before them… of strawberry fields.

Alec raised an eyebrow. "This is their hideout?"

"I did say strawberry fields, didn't I," Jace answered dryly. "Though I do agree, i was expecting more. There were these buildings scattered throughout the area and a big wall in the middle of nowhere." He frowned. "I definitely remember this as one of the final images but there was the last one. I don't understand. There aren't any of the buildings I saw or anything. It's like it doesn't exist."

"Maybe you forgot something?" Alec hesitantly asked. "I know it's highly improbable but still. Could you have forgotten something?" Jace shook his head adamantly. "It's probably a glamour then."

They each stared at the fields before them, trying to find and peel back the glamour, surely there.

"Nothing." Jace sighed. "Anybody else?"

Having no one being able to even sense a glamour Clary suggested they get a closer look.

"What if it's a trap? have you considered that it's a trap?" Simon pointed out.

"Hate to say it, but Simon could be right," said Alec. "We should be cautious and stick to cover in case any of them can see us. We'll assume that they probably don't take well to visitors. If there's anybody here."

Jace nodded. "Alright."

Standing at the top of the hill, they headed to the other side to make their way down. There was nothing out of the ordinary and no one anywhere that they could see from the high vantage point. Passing a certain point of the hill, Jace felt a slight pushing as he walked forwards. As soon as it started, the feeling ended, leaving Jace puzzled. The group came to a full halt when Magnus suddenly came to an abrupt stop in the middle of a step and yelped. He stumbled back rubbing his face with a hand.

The others looked back to Magnus. He stopped his forwards advance and had started pacing sideways along the place where he had just stopped.

"What are you doing, Magnus," Jace asked with a raised eyebrow as he watched Magnus do his pacing while holding his hand out, palm extended in the shadowhunters direction.

He looked at them. "Hmm." His brow was furrowed. "It appears that I cannot get through."

"That's ridiculous," Jace said as Alec went back to Magnus, grabbed his hand and pulled him forward only to suddenly stop his tugging.

"He's right," Alec said in surprise. "There's something resisting him."

"Resisting?" Magnus murmured sarcastically. "You ever walk face first into a brick wall, Alexander? 'Cause that's what the _something_ resisting me feels like. Damn magic." He glared sourly at the air in front of him and kicked it. Jace could see Clary cringe as Magnus bellowed in pain.

"So what do we do now if there's some sort of magical brick wall keeping Magnus out." Alec frowned. "We can't leave him here on his own."

Magnus sighed reluctantly. "Just go. I'll be fine," he assured his boyfriend. Alec was pulled close for a second as Magnus gave him a quick kiss. "I'll just be here. And I can take care of myself just fine." Jace knew very well how Magnus could look after himself, but he was pretty sure that Magnus loved how protective Alec could be sometimes. And then there were those times when that same protectiveness was very annoying, as Jace had been subject to for years.

So the group lost their warlock as they turned to find themselves overlooking a valley that took their breath away. All Jace could do was stare in surprise for a second at the sight that greeted his eyes. He swore that he hadn't seen all the Greek style buildings beforehand. There were a set of cabins in the distance that Jace had seen with the tracking rune. Off in the distance Jace could see a small group of people on the lake canoeing, another group on horses and he could hear a faint _ring_ as swords clashed together in the distance. After that second of his surprise faded, he started walking down the slope but turned to comment to the others, "this is what I saw. There must be one hell of a glamour in the magic wall."

"Clearly," Simon said. "This is _awesome_! Check out that climbing wall! This place is-" his enthusiasm suddenly turned and his face took on a warning look as he reached for his sword. Jace flew at Clary as she turned to face the gaping jaw of a dragon. She barely had time to gasp before Jace was rolling off of her, now laying on the ground. A steady anger filled him as he quickly and efficiently planted himself and threw a knife at breakneck speed before ducking down and hauling Clary upright. A roar permeated the air that told him his dagger had hit. Driving Clary back to a safer distance, Jace did a quick survey. The knife seemed to have missed a vital point, it was embedded off to the side of its neck and it was well alive and looked seriously pissed off.

"Kill it off quickly!" Jace yelled to the others, just as an arrow flew by. But it missed and instead lodged itself in the tree that the dragon appeared to be wrapped around. Again, the reptile shrieked, this time more as a challenge than in pain and fury.

 _So much for sneaking in silently,_ Jace thought.

Light danced off the scales as it wound its way further up the tree, a great big pine, finally settling on a thick branch of the pine tree. Crouching and baring it's razor-sharp teeth with a hiss, it seemed slightly reluctant to leave the tree, until Alec shot another arrow, planting it in the dragons shoulder. With murder in his eyes and his hesitancy abandoned, the dragon lunged forwards aiming for any one of them.

It dived for Simon, who neatly jumped out of the way as Isabelle's whip caught the light and lashed a deep cut into the dragons hide. A second flash of light as the tail whipped by and clipped Alec's shoulder, causing him to get spun to the ground. The dragon snarled and gave another lunge, Isabelle as his new target. Coming at her fast, Isabelle just had enough time to pull a knife from her boot and deliver a deep cut to its face before she was knocked down, pinned by a massive foot. Everyone charged the dragon down, Alec clutching his shoulder, Clary brandishing her Morgenstern sword and Jace sprinting with a seraph blade. The dragon was huffing as it glowed down at Isabelle who struggled, though the was futile of do so. Simon, who was the closest to the dragon and Izzy, grabbed the knife that Isabelle had just dropped, and went to attack the giant reptile, just as it swung it's head around to look at him through its reptilian eye. Everything slowed down for Jace as he saw the jaws open wide and head on a direct path for Simon. It would devour him in two bites. It was several feet away from him, it's jaws stretched wide-

A shriek, followed by a cry, both human by nature. The dragon snapped its jaws shut several feet away from Simon and, releasing Isabelle, turned its attention to the new people. Turning warily while still keeping an eye on the dragon, who had suddenly bounded back to the tree and nestled on a branch at the cry of outrage, Jace turned to regard a large group gathering, weapons drawn, all wearing matching orange shirts and expressions of anger. It was no wonder their glamours were being seen through, with the big ruckess that the dragon had caused.

A larger girl in war helmet stepped forward holding a spear. _Seriously,_ Jace thought. _She is buffer than a girl ought to be._ "Surrender," she said before grinning deviously at the group. "Or don't. I really wouldn't mind using one of you as a punching bag."

Looking at one another, the shadowhunters slowly placed their weapons on the ground one by one. Probably best to be complacent in this situation.

"Hey!" big-and-brawn yelled out, staring at Isabelle. "Put the silver on the ground too!" Isabelle stopped trying to wind her whip up her arm instead gently let it fall to the ground with a casual shrug, though Jace knew underneath that she was itching to take no notice of the girl's warning and grab it anyway. He knew that she would be unwilling to part in any other situation.

The dragon hissed as the whip hit the ground. The helmet-girl cast a worried look at the dragon. Turning around, she pointed to someone in the group. "Go get Will, Peleus should get medical attention," she ordered. A girl detached from the back of the group and scurried down the hills, seeming eager to get out from the brawny girl's stare.

Turning her now-angry stare back to the five, she announced, "I am _so_ gonna beat at least one of you for what you did to Peleus. Who's up first?"

Turning to his friends, with his arms lightly crossed, Jace grinned. "You heard the man, who wants to get beat up first?"

All the people behind the lead girl blanched a bit. Some even shot warning looks to Jace while some covered their mouths with their hands for a moment. Everyone could tell when the insult landed. At first she took no notice and there was a moment of her thinking his sentence over in her mind and then the muscles in her neck started to bulge as the troops rallied behind her seemed to shrink back and look uncertainly at each other.

One of them hesitantly spoke out, a boy who looked about fifteen, corded with muscle. "You should just ignore him. Take them directly to Chiron and let him deal with them." He managed to say this all in one breath, only once taking a brief look up from his shoes.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Clarisse hissed out.

"No but-"

"Then keep your mouth shut."

The guy clamped his mouth shut, a muscle working in his jaw.

"You should be nicer to your troops," Jace suggested.

She glared darkly at him. "I didn't ask for _your_ opinion, either."

"That's the beauty of it though." Jace grinned. "Nobody has to. I like to give it out freely."

"Jace, you can stop now," Alec muttered. All his friends behind him were slightly tense, anticipating a fight.

As Clarisse took a threatening step closer, a familiar voice rang out that put her to a stop. "Stand down."

The crowd parted for three people. One was an older, middle-aged man, until Jace took a second look and noticed the white horse bottom-half. He made sure that the only show of his surprise was a slight widening of his eyes and nothing else. The second was the girl Clarisse had ordered to get the guy named Will. Then he was eyeing the blonde with the hard, gray eyes.

"Pleasure to see you again, Annabeth."

Her eyes hardened a bit as the crowd started whispering to each other.

"You know these punks," burst out an annoyed Clarisse.

"Yes," Annabeth replied, apologetically.

"Look what they've done to Peleus!" She turned her gaze to the girl awkwardly standing next to the horse-man. "Where is Will?" she snapped.

The girl blanched a bit. "He wasn't with the other Apollo kids. They suggested that he went to look for Nico. Another one is coming in a minute. She just needed to grab a few things." The girl spoke quickly as if eager to be out from under the scrutiny of the much larger girl. Jace couldn't fault her for that.

"Why didn't you bring her directly here," Clarisse grumbled.

"That's enough, Clarisse." The older man-pony spoke softly but his tone left no room for argument. Annabeth raised herself on her tippy toes and whispered something into his ear.

"Put your weapons away," he called to the kids with orange shirts. His gaze shifted to Jace and his friends. "There's no need for you to all gather, you may go about your regular activities." With that dismissal, they all slowly started to walk away with curious or suspicious expressions. Of course nearly all the girls walked away with many backwards looks at Jace. Finally it was just the shadowhunters, Annabeth and the older man. "Annabeth, dear, go get their friend outside the barrier and meet us at the Big House."

"Yes, Chiron."

She turned and strode up the hill to where Magnus stood on the other side of the barrier. They were left alone with the horse-man.

In a tone that told them he hadn't forgotten about the injured dragon, he said, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

 **Will**

Standing at the edge of the forest, Will sighed. This was most likely the place Nico had chosen to disappear to but it was so big that it would take forever to find him, especially all by himself. It probably would have been better for Will to wait out Nico's little need for solitude but when it came to Nico, Will was decidedly stubborn.

Marching into the forest, he had gotten only a couple dozen feet in when he heard the roar. In a flash his bow was in his hands with an arrow tightly against the string and he was tense. He turned back to look but couldn't see anything from his point of view. He heard more roars and recognized them than as Peleus's. Whatever that was about the other campers could deal with it.

And with that resolve, Will continued on his way into the forest. Keeping his bow in hand but having it loose at his side and his hand just above his quiver. It may be light out, but all the senior campers knew that wouldn't stop all the monsters. Always enter the forest with a weapon and a big group if you don't want to become a tasty morsel for some hungry monster, was the general rule.

It had been a bright sunny day before but it was pretty much transformed upon entering the forest. The hair on the back of Will's neck rose at the smallest things. He decided to check near the creek that divided the territories in capture the flag first. Nico probably hadn't strayed too deeply into the forest. Hopefully.

He arrived at his destination in no time, the slow gurgle of the small river breaking the heavy silence of the forest. The surrounding forest yielded no sign of Will's boyfriend, the stretch of water flowing down to join the lake.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out Nico's name. Striding up the banks of the river, Will debated where to check.

"Zeus's fist seems as good a place as any," he muttered to himself. Might as well check the popular spots in the forest first, he reasoned. So he splashed across the creek, water soaking through his shoes. He walked on, pondering the ability Percy had that let him remain dry whenever. Walking around in his squelch ingredients shoes, he was really beginning to envy that ability. He had hiked possibly about half way to his destination when Will heard something crashing through the forest, breaking branches and moving fast. His bow was up in a flash, and arrow nocked. Fifty feet away, Nico appeared, covered in numerous scratches and panting. As Will lowered his bow, Nico shouted out to him.

"Don't lower it…," he panted, still running. "He's coming… shoot him!"

Appearing shortly after Nico was a young man. He was like Nico in features and his apparent liking for black clothing, but otherwise opposite to Nico. What drew Will's attention first about the pursuer was the large broadsword he was holding, the second was the tattoos a short sleeved shirt revealed. With one glance at Nico, who had stopped at Will's side, catching his breath, Will shot at the pursuer.

In one moment, the man was right in front of Will, the next, he was five feet to the left. Will's arrow flew right through the space where the man had been standing previously, and was lost in the distance. _Hardly_ _the_ _first_ _arrow_ _lost_ _around_ _here_ , Will mused. _Someone will probably find it during capture the flag. Off topic. Stop. Focus. Bad guy in vicinity. Focus._

Nico wheezed from beside him. "Dolos… kidnapped Annabeth to get... to Percy… that guy-"

"Yeah I figured it was that guy, death boy."

The kidnapper had stopped running and stood still, instead. "Seems you do have a friend, Nico."

Nico's jaw clenched.

It was quiet in the forest save the panting of Nico and the ground as each of the three of them shifted their weight. Figuring their need for reinforcements and knowing none would manage to appear in time, he spoke to Nico from the corner of his mouth while keeping Nico's pursuer in his sight. "Shadowtravel us out of here."

Nico's jaw tightened more. "Do you think I'd be running if I could? I can't. He's blocking me."

"We haven't been introduced yet." The man looked at Nico condescending. "I'm Nico's older brother as I'd imagine you already know. Call me Dolos. And you are?"

Will stood his ground and nocked another arrow, sighting Dolos. "I don't think so."

"Well it doesn't really matter, I guess. Anyways little brother, good news for you. We just got another person for our little game."

"What game?!" Will growled. He had a feeling he knew what the game was.

Dolos devilishly grinned at him. "You guys are the prey and I'm the predator." His sword bobbed up and down in his grip.

Rippling and distorting, the shadows swallowed Dolos up and spat him out twenty feet to the right. An arrow sprouted out of the trunk of the tree behind where he just was. Will scrambled for another arrow. Dolos charged the pair.

"I've got an idea," Will told Nico. He tightly gripped Nico's hand. "Close your eyes and when I tell you to, run."

Nico seemed to wrestle with the idea of shutting his eyes, but didn't voice any of his complaints. "My life is in your hands," he warned as his eyelids slid shut.

"Okay."

Another arrow was nocked instantly and then flew through the air on course for the sprinting Dolos, who jumped and flipped out of the way, gracefully landing with a flourish. Quickly and nimbly, Will selected his next arrow, feeling the width of his arrows in the quiver, he pulled out the singular arrow thicker than the rest. Dolos was closing in.

Will shut his own eyes and blindly shot at the ground in front of Dolos's path. He could tell when the arrow hit the ground because through his shut eyelids he could see a flare of light erupt from in front of him. He heard a roar of pain come from his enemy.

"Run!" Will shouted and grasped Nico's hand, dragging him along. It would hopefully keep Dolos blinded for several minutes, long enough for the two of them to get away. With a powerful shower of light erupting from his arrow, Will did his best to blindly lead Nico away from their attacker, trying to avoid running into a tree. The light being emitted would have been powerful enough to erase any shadow in a thirty foot radius.

"Wha… was that?" Nico puffed from behind him.

"Just keep going," Will ordered.

Momentarily, Will opened his eyes to take in their surroundings for a second. As a child of Apollo, his eyes had a higher tolerance to light than others did. His eyes could stand the exposure of the light emitting from his arrow for a very limited amount of time, but long enough to get his bearings. He charged straight, propelling the blind Nico forward, who had thrown his other arm over his closed eyes, dragging him past where Dolos should be. Will dodged to the left to avoid a tree he seen. They ran hand in hand as fast as Will dared to go, periodically opening his eyes to check for obstacles. He couldn't hear Dolos at all, which was definitely something to worry about.

Risking another glance, Will shoved Nico up against the trunk of a tree, out of the light's glare.

"Kay, we're in the shade. Can you get us out now? Is he still blocking you?" Will practically shouted.

Nico was quiet for a second before vigorously shaking his head. "He must have regained control. What do we do now?"

"What do I look like, a child of Athena? We run. Close your eyes again. We'll think of something." Will had no plan at that moment, except for coming up with a plan.

Once again running forwards, it was too quiet, and a few seconds later, the light from his arrow started to dim.

Suddenly a loud booming voice called out, cackling wildly. "This is going to be _fun!"_ Dolos cried out gleefully. "The kids have got bite!"

They continued sprinting forwards, Will now with a destination in mind. Soon enough the light from his arrow failed completely and Nico could see now, though he still kept his hand in Will's. The only negative aspect was that now Dolos would be able to see, assuming he hadn't been blinded. He'd have to remember to thank his dad for that particular arrow later if they made it out alive.

It was extremely unnerving, that all they could hear was themselves running. Dolos wasn't in sight when they took swift looks over their shoulders, nor could they hear him, but nevertheless their pace did not let up a fraction.

"Just… about," Will said, now breathing hard himself. Nico gave a start, realizing their destination.

Ahead of them stood Zeus's fist, boulders towering far above head. Will lead Nico around the side of the pile, looking for the entrance, when Nico stumbled.

Suddenly, he cried out in pain and his hand went limp in Will's. He cried out a second time just as Will jerked his head to see what happened, catching a glimpse of metal exiting out Nico's chest through his back.

Will reacted without thinking. One moment his bow was in his hand, the next moment, It wasn't, one of the edges smacking Dolos in the middle of the forehead. Instinctively, Dolos eyes flicked shut and paused in his tracks for a minute. It was all Will needed to haul Nico a few feet farther and shove him into the crack, pushing him farther in until Nico disappeared from Will's touch. Then Will felt the his own feet leave the ground as he fell through the air and landed on Nico, who was sprawled out on the hard-packed earthen ground.

It was pitch black in the tunnel, with only a slight gleam of light coming from the remaining two celestial bronze arrows that Will had left, spilled onto the floor from his fall. Will blindly sat up, kneeling at Nico's side, while Nico groaned, then let out several long, wet coughs. Something came into contact with Will's knee. It was warm and wet and a faint scent of metal swept over Will. Blood.

Alarmed, Will groped for his arrows, leaning over Nico to grab them. Cradling the arrowheads in his hands, Will shut his eyes and focused on them, willing the light to strengthen. He coaxed and teased at the light coming from the celestial bronze until it grew to encompass the whole of Will and Nico's bodies in its illumination. It was a gentle, warm glow, not at all matching the mood of the two boys who had just jumped into the infamous Labyrinth in search of protection. He set the arrows down to his side. Now lit up, the hall they'd landed in had rough, stone walls that ran forwards a couple hundred feet before they took a ninety degree angle to the right.

Blood ran from Nico's wound, pooling in the uneven surface of the hard earthen ground. Nico groaned and coughed some more as Will peeled the dark shirt off his abdomen and pushed it up to his chest and set to inspecting his patients injuries. Blood ran freely from the wound, as Will immediately placed his hands over the gaping flesh. All he could think was _thank the gods it wasn't celestial bronze. Or worse, stygian iron._ He shivered at the thought. It was likely that Dolos had a blade the same as Nico's somewhere.

Concentrating on the task in front of him, Will focused on his energy, moving it down to his hands and then transferring it further into Nico's wounds. He could feel the blood ebb slower from beneath his hands until it finally came to an end. Will was sweating by then but continued to put more energy forward, pushing it deeper inside, reinforcing the blood vessels broken to avoid internal bleeding. It was a slow process and by the time he had finished, Will was gasping for breath. Sweat rolled over his forehead and stung his eyes but he couldn't find the strength to raise his arm and wipe it away.

Nico grabbed him by his shoulders, suddenly sitting up, and gently lowered him to the ground, shifting so he could place Will's head in his lap, where he began to wipe away the sweat with the sleeve of his coat. "Thank you," Nico said simply. Black spots swam through Will's vision, blotting out most of Nico's face. "Rest now," Nico continued. "we're not going to be moving anywhere for a little while. I'm way too tired." He definitely did have a paler complexion than usual from what Will could make out. "Not to mention, Dolos is still close. The shadows are still closed to us. We'll have to wait for him to leave. Try to sleep." I'll stand watch, Will could have complained, that _he_ was _Nico_ 's doctor. But Will couldn't muster the strength to voice his words and simply fell backwards into the darkness that rose up to claim him.

 **At this point I don't have a plan anymore. I have a very general direction that I know this story is going in but other than that, I'm writing without a plan. At this point I am an assassin without a backup plan.**

 **I just started reading the Trials of Apollo so I decided to try adding a certain aspect from that book into my fanfic. Hope you enjoy!**


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